Date posted: 09/27/2007*

A team of Raytheon Six Sigma™ (R6s) Experts recently facilitated a daylong event designed to address the challenges that people with disabilities face when trying to enter the workforce in Rhode Island. Called “Creating Pathways to Work: Strategic Visioning Retreat,” the event was hosted by Rhodes to Independence, a non-profit entity operated under the auspices of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy.

A variety of policy makers, service providers, educators and key individuals with disabilities participated in this groundbreaking event. One attendee was Rep. Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, the first and only quadriplegic elected to Congress. “Businesses in our state, like Raytheon, have been incredibly willing to participate in these sorts of discussions,” said Langevin, “in part because it’s the right thing to do, but also because they are aware that people with disabilities are a real resource for their companies.” 

Raytheon’s facilitation team, led by Kathryn Bingham, a R6s Master Expert from the Corporate Internal Audit team, enabled the 36 participants to use R6s processes to identify data-driven strategies that will help individuals with disabilities overcome systemic barriers and obtain competitive employment.

The facilitation team also included Dave Roudebush, Daniel Barrett and Steve Tamburro, all active members and leaders of the Raytheon Persons with DisAbilities employee resource group. Larry Harrington, Raytheon’s vice president of Internal Audit, also participated.

“It is amazing to see how the powerful combination of committed stakeholders and the Raytheon Six Sigma process produces tangible results in documenting system changes and actions required to truly remove long- and short-term barriers,” said Harrington. 

Several Action Items Determined
Participants worked in six different groups during the event. They were tasked with considering potential obstacles, developing mitigation plans, creating useful change strategies, identifying champions to lead each effort, and documenting milestones and timelines for implementation.  

Some of the event’s key outcomes included:

• An effort to create leadership driven, cross-service provider knowledge management. The effort will engage top leadership across state agencies in the hopes of ensuring that comprehensive, accurate, timely information resources are accessible to consumers and agency personnel.
• A project that focuses helping young people transition to the workforce (coined “Informed Choice – Youth First”).
• A critical solution concept to allow state agencies to focus on core competencies and create a shared service providing a single, unified vehicle to interface with employers and potential employees. This would reduce state spending in a time of budgetary concern.
• An effort to use the business case of larger employers to enable small-to-medium sized businesses to tap into the value offered by hiring individuals with disabilities.

Raytheon Recognized for Its Efforts
Many participants expressed their appreciation for Raytheon’s commitment to the event, noting the company’s detailed planning and day-of coordination. Raytheon’s participation came as a direct result of Tamburro’s involvement with the Rhodes to Independence’s Social Security Summit in March 2007.

“I was impelled to break the silence by explaining the Raytheon Six Sigma process of problem solving and offered to explore the possibility of Raytheon’s support to help foster change,” Tamburro said. “The first person I thought of was Larry Harrington, considering his passion for inclusiveness and community focus. I then met with Hayward Bell, Raytheon’s chief diversity officer, to discuss the possibilities.”

Regarding future initiatives, Harrington for one is optimistic that more will soon emerge: “The solution begins here, since Raytheon has now helped to create a successful model for employers nationwide to replicate and tap into a unique pool of talented workers.”

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