The Job Match:
Maximizing Outcomes With Consumers With Mental Illness

By Mike Flaherty, Organizational Consultant with the Rural Institute

Geoff has been a valued employee for nine years at a vibrant business that benefits from his skills and high level of energy. The key to his job retention was, and continues to be, identifying and matching a specific business culture to Geoff 's skills, preference, and behaviors. He has achieved a level of confidence and independence that allows him to maintain a quality of life that once was considered beyond his reach.

I first met Geoff while working as a vocational specialist for community mental health services in western Montana. His diagnosis of chronic mental illness, coupled with repeated attempts at suicide, compromised many attempts at community job placement. Additionally, Geoff embraced a lifestyle choice that often left him isolated and fearful. Geoff 's obvious assets were his energy, sense of humor, and intelligence. Brief, unsuccessful attempts at community employment left Geoff frustrated, angry, and more prone to episodes of self-abuse. At one point his case worker suggested that Geoff move to Seattle, where he might find a larger community to support his alternative lifestyle, perhaps giving him a broader base of support and mental health services.

Geoff considered and, at first, embraced the move. However, he felt that his roots were in Montana. He decided he would exhaust all employment options (with my assistance) before opting to move. Both of us believed that in a supportive workplace, we would find a viable solution. Our primary objective would be identifying a work culture (place, people, and product) that would both support and benefit from Geoff as a person. Geoff 's skills were not an issue; he could learn and perform a variety of jobs. We paid attention to the often overlooked factors in the workplace culture that affect long-term job satisfaction and retention. After a series of work-site evaluations, Geoff found a workplace that would change his life and assist him in achieving a level of self-reliance that few, except Geoff, thought possible. The applied principles of job matching made the difference for Geoff.

Job Matching

Job matching is exactly what its name implies: matching the person to the job, or matching the skills and behavior of the job seeker to the employer's needs/expectations and work culture. More than simply a job placement, a job match works to the mutual benefit of the employee and the employer. And a good job match translates into long-term job retention.

Long-term job retention depends on a variety of support factors. Typically, personal economic need and cultural values associated with work support job retention. Personal economic need is an obvious factor, given our basic living requirements. Cultural values/supports aren't as easily defined; they relate to specific, underlying, personal and social desires to work.

A variety of environmental factors provide secondary supports at the workplace. These factors include all the variables associated with time, place, and the expected work outcomes.

The acceptable job match, whether self-directed or as part of an integrated approach in job development service, includes both the primary and secondary supports identified above. But effective job matching addresses more than just these basics. It includes identifying the job seeker's personal or psychological issues.

The Worker Profile

When developing a worker profile, the job consultant should identify and evaluate all the issues that will likely impact the self-esteem of the worker and ultimately his or her satisfaction with the placement. Get all the information about the job seeker before any specific job development begins. Incorporating psychological or medical factors with other job factor ensures that good, natural (psychological) supports are identified and valued.

This includes specifics about medication and its side effects on physical functioning, personality, and behavior. Direct and side effects of prescribed medication will impact the job match and the achieved outcome. My personal experience in providing vocational experiences to persons with persistent mental illness has taught me that overlooking these elements can compromise the best efforts of long-term job placement. Common side effects of psychopharmacological medicine affect an individual's ability to remain alert, control bladder urgency, and retain fine motor skills over a period of time/tasks. The side effects and factors of "clock and biological" time will also affect an individual's performance. Clock and biological time refers to our innate ability to function outside of typical 8-to-5 work schedule.

Long-term job retention for persons with mental illness depends on an accurate analysis of the individual's "comfort zone" as well as the potential stressors in the workplace. A good job match includes consistent attention to those psychological factors that result in a safe and supportive environment. Psychological "safety" can be the most overlooked element in job retention. Overlooking the issue of personal safety will likely compromise the chance for success.

Evaluate the Culture

Equally important to identifying specific psychological factors is identifying related factors in the proposed workplace. A good job profile analyzes work performance, corporate culture, and the availability of support to ensure a long-term job. Involving the job seeker improves the chance of achieving and retaining the desired job. Identifying those traits that will be valued environmentally and culturally in the workplace is key to a good employment fit.

Individuals are more likely to lose employment because they simply don't "fit in" or don't get along with co-workers on a personal basis than for lack of required skills. Skills are more easily acquired than the more subtle ability to "fit in." Employment specialists have done a better job at matching people to required skills than to workplace culture/environment. Pay attention to potential sources of both support and conflict in the work culture. Evaluate the "unwritten" guidelines for employee relationships.