Winning Videos Announced

The US DOL had a Campaign for Disability Employment and announced  the video contest winners of 'What can YOU do?'  They have asked for the public to vote before June 8 for the runner up videos.
See the winning videos here.
To see the other videos  and vote click here.

The gist of the message is people with disabilities are great employees.
Focus on their abilities, what they CAN do and find a valuable asset to your company.


Part of the press release is reproduced below.

WASHINGTON — The Campaign for Disability Employment, a collaborative of leading disability and business organizations funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, has selected the winning videos in the 2012 "What can YOU do?" video contest. This nationwide contest challenged filmmakers to produce disability employment awareness videos that reflect the diversity of skills people with disabilities offer, challenge common misconceptions about disability employment and reinforce the CDE's core message that, at work, it's what people CAN do that matters.

The 2012 "What can YOU do?" video contest winners were selected in three categories: employer, youth and general public. Judging was based on originality, content, reflection of campaign themes and categories, production value, impact and accessibility. Winning videos now will be used in support of the campaign's national effort to increase the employment of people with disabilities.  To see the whole press release click here.

And the winner is . . .

The current trend in technology is creating "apps" -- even the government is doing it.  Earlier in the year I pointed to some challenges the USDOL was making to developers to find interesting ways to use the data that is available on their website.  (See February 2, 2012 post)  The Equal Pay App Challenge winners have been announced. 

Unfortunately, I have yet to get a mobile device that will support its use, so have not been able to play, but for those who do have an iPhone or iPad you might have some fun with the Gender Gap Game, especially if you're a male.  The game asks the player to guess at whether a particular salary amount for a particular job is a male salary average or a female average.  I challenge you to play the game until you find one where the female salary is higher.  This is why it may be somewhat frustrating for women.  The intent however is education, so that women will be stronger negotiators and understand the worth of their position.

The good news is that Hawaii, is actually above average in this area.  Where the national average has women earning 77 cents to every dollar a male earns, wahine in Hawaii are earning 80 cents to that dollar. Great news would be that we earn the same amount for the same job.  An interesting fact sheet on this material was produced last month as part of equal pay day April 17 and can be found here. 

But you're reading this to learn the winning app, so here is a link to the app walk through video that shows how to play.  Find it at GenderGapApp.com  For the contest runners up see http://equalpay.challenge.gov/.  Can't wait to hear what you think.

OES Arriving Soon in Your Mailbox!

     The Occupational Employment Survey (OES) will be mailed out soon from the DLIR Research and Statistics Office.  I urge you to take a moment and fill it out and return it as soon as possible.  The information gathered is confidential.  Everyone's participation is important.

       The Occupational Employment Survey is directed to employers in order to gather the data.  It is a national project funded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is useful data for both employers and employees. 

     Just the other day a friend was finally offered a job (Yeah!) after being unemployed for a whole year.  She was at the stage of negotiating the details of her new job, including salary and asked me what she could expect to be paid. I had no idea because she is an art director and I am an administrator, so I sent her to the Research and Statistics HIWI website, specifically, the Occupational Employment Survey. (See the Jan 30 post on this blog)


     When my friend found the salary range for her particular job title, she recognized that she was likely going to take a cut in pay from her last job in another state. Having this information was helpful for both parties.  It gave realistic goals for my friend that she could work with and helped her employer by remaining competitive for good employees.

     The data, like all data, is only as good as its source.  Data from the DLIR can be relied on for it's integrity and accuracy because their mission is to serve Hawaii.  The broader the spectrum of collection, the more accurate the information reported.  DLIR needs employers to respond to the survey that is sent out by the Research and Statistics Office to ensure the best possible sampling.  Employers can expect to find the survey in their mail boxes next week.  Be on the lookout.