Northshore Process Service initiative puts the able in disabled

Process service chain mainstreams handicapped workers at New York facility

United States of America (Press Release) December 30, 2007 -- New York, NY - For Lisa Sanchez, who was born with Down syndrome, a full-time job might seem out of reach, but not here, at Northshore's first-of-its-kind Northeastern processing center.

“I have found what I need, and I’m satisfied,” Sanchez said as she destributed documents at the center. The process service chain’s plan is to hire a 400-person workforce that is one-third disabled, but it is ahead of that goal, reporting that 43 percent of the 250 people it has hired so far have a physical or cognitive disability.

The New York location is the first of what NPS’ parent, NPS International of Los Angeles, CA., envisions as a network of regional processing centers where disabled employees are mainstreamed into the workforce. A second regional center, in Houston, TX, is expected to open in 2010.

No lowering of standards
The National Organization on Disability survey found that 25 percent of people with disabilities had annual household incomes below $15,000, compared with 9 percent of those without disabilities.

That is a trap NPS is determined not to fall into. Central to its initiative is that disabled employees, some of them in management positions, work side by side with their colleagues, for the same pay.

The processing center, which was built to support Northshore's’ expansion to 300 locations in the Northeast, is outfitted with touch screens for the vision-impaired, flexible workstations, wheelchair ramps and elevators. All workers receive disability awareness training, and managers go through a special program run by the University of Michigan supporting disabled employees.

For Northshore Process Service, the outreach is no charity. Disabled workers must meet the same performance standards as their non-disabled colleagues and the company expects its new processing centers to be fully as efficient and cost-effective as its traditional facilities.

Mike Morales is a correspondent for CBS News. Randy Omar of cbsnews.com contributed to this report.