What if the accommodation request on your desk is one of the best performance tools you have? Too many organizations still treat disability accommodations as a compliance task: a box to check, a cost to contain, a risk to manage. That mindset may be costing them productivity, retention, and talent. Most accommodations cost nothing to implement, and more than a quarter of Americans have a disability, most of them invisible. Your workforce likely already includes people who could do their best work with the right support.
In this episode of the DE Talk Podcast, host Michelle Krefft of DirectEmployers Association sits down with Charlie Kramer, founder of Disability Reimagined, for a candid conversation about why accommodations belong in your performance strategy, not your risk file. Drawing on life with 96% vision loss and years of coaching both employers and the disability community, Charlie shares accommodations that may surprise you, the one golden rule every manager should follow when an employee asks for support, and a quick, practical step HR and talent acquisition teams can take this month. If you’ve ever wondered how to make accommodations simpler, more effective, and better for your entire team, this episode is for you.
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For over two decades, the playbook for job hunting was simple: open a search bar, type a rigid job title or career focus and a zip code, and wade through pages of mismatched links. That playbook is officially expiring. In a recent episode of the DE Talk Podcast, host...
“Jobs near me” has been the most common job search for 20 years, and with the introduction of AI, it’s on the verge of disappearing. Candidates have stopped typing keywords. They’re asking ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude for jobs that fit their experience, their schedules and their lives. If your jobs aren’t in the handful of answers those tools give, candidates never see you. And because the AI platforms share no search data, most employers have no idea what candidates are asking. In this episode of the DE Talk Podcast, host AJ Selvey of DirectEmployers Association sits down with Ben Russell, co-founder of SonicJobs, to talk about what’s changed, the misconceptions costing employers good candidates, and how CareerGPT brings a ChatGPT-style conversation to your existing career site without replacing your website or ATS. Ben also shares early CareerGPT data showing that more than half of candidate conversations lead to an application start.
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Major regulatory shifts can create uncertainty, but they also offer a rare opportunity to re-evaluate what truly drives workplace culture. On the latest episode of the DE Talk Podcast, guest host and Chief Advisor at Forte Advisory Group PJ Rossi sits down with...
The 7% utilization goal is gone. The annual disability data analysis is gone. The CC-305 disability self-identification form is gone. As of September 21, 2026, a Final Rule from the OFCCP has stripped away the measurement tools federal contractors have used for over a decade under Section 503, but the underlying obligations to recruit, accommodate, and not discriminate against people with disabilities haven’t disappeared.
In this episode, guest host PJ Rossi of Forte Advisory Group and HR Compliance Consultant at DirectEmployers sits down with longtime disability advocate Felicia Nurmsen, Founder of Inclusion Without Illusion, to unpack what this rule change really means for HR compliance teams, talent acquisition, and the disability community—including why losing the measurement requirement isn’t permission to do less, the difference between self-identification and disclosure (and why most disabilities are invisible to begin with), how AI in hiring can quietly rebuild the same barriers this rule was meant to remove, why the accommodation process is a retention strategy rather than a cost center, and how to tell whether your disability recruitment partnerships are still earning their keep.
This podcast is for general discussion purposes only and should not be considered as legal advice.
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The recruitment landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace. Between the sudden explosion of generative AI, an influx of automated “apply-for-me” bots, and shifting candidate expectations, talent acquisition leaders are caught navigating unprecedented challenges. In the...
In this episode of the DE Talk Podcast, host Shannon Offord sits down with Sam Fitzroy, co-founder and CEO of candidate conversion platform, Dalia. Bringing over 15 years of industry experience—including key leadership roles at Indeed and The Muse—Fitzroy offers a candid look at the friction points plaguing modern recruitment. Together, they break down the flaws of volume-based hiring models, the impact of AI auto-apply tools flooding applicant tracking systems, and why making job applications overly complex harms both candidates and employers. Fitzroy also shares how talent acquisition teams can optimize content for generative AI search engines and previews Dalia’s upcoming candidate-support initiative designed to ensure job seekers never feel alone in their search.
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For almost 60 years, the EEO-1 Report has been a fixture for employers—love it or hate it, everyone knows the drill. Now the EEOC wants to get rid of it, and nobody’s quite sure what comes next.
In this episode, Alicia Wallace talks with Nita Beecher of Fortney Scott about what’s actually going on: why the EEOC is targeting EEO-1 reporting and the rules behind it, what EEOC leadership has said about how employers can still use this data, and why dropping federal reporting doesn’t mean the legal risk goes away. They also get into the uncertain position employers might find themselves in—no requirement to collect the data, but still very much exposed to discrimination claims if they don’t.
It’s a candid conversation for anyone who handles this work and is trying to figure out what to do next, not just what the headlines say.
This podcast is for general discussion purposes only and should not be considered as legal advice.
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Indianapolis-based nonprofit wins Gold, Silver, and Bronze across three competitive categories in first-ever submission to the prestigious American Business Awards, recognizing excellence in annual conference programming and member engagement. DirectEmployers...
Sixth Consecutive Honor Reflects a People-First Culture That Keeps Climbing Nonprofit HR trade consortium, DirectEmployers Association is proud to announce it has been named a 2026 Top Workplace by The Indianapolis Star for the sixth consecutive year. This recognition...
