The Department of Labor first announced a disability employment initiative in 1945. Nearly 80 years later, National Disability Employment Awareness Month isn’t just about employing physically disabled people, but also spreading awareness that all disabled workers, whether or not their disabilities are visible, deserve the tools they need to thrive in the workplace.

Technological barriers can make it harder for disabled people to get and keep jobs, according to the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion. But by increasing the availability of technology, communication, and cross-departmental collaboration, accessibility experts said, HR can help disabled workers succeed.

Accommodations are tools. Imagine running a marathon—but with only one shoe. Maybe you’d make it to the finish line, but it would likely take a lot longer. Now think about the tools employees may need to do their jobs well: an extra monitor or number-crunching software, among other things. Assistive technology accommodations shouldn’t be seen in a different light, explained Lori Golden, abilities strategy leader at Ernst & Young.

Assistive technologies can range from live captions or sound amplification systems for people who are hard of hearing, to screen-reader software for those with vision loss, portable word processors for neurodivergent employees, or a modified mouse for someone with a limb difference. These are just a few drops in the bucket of the wide-ranging assistive technologies available.

Clarity and process. A library would just be a pile of books if not for librarians and the Dewey Decimal System. Accommodation policies are similar. An employer could have a library of accessible technologies, but if employees don’t know how to request them, the technology is useless. Keep reading here.—KP

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Yuan Hou joined customer management software company HubSpot as a senior manager of people analytics earlier this year. He received a PhD in organizational behavior nearly a decade ago, and recently told HR Brew about how the role of people analytics has shifted in recent years.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in HR? I would describe people analytics as a team of detectives that sleuth through workforce data to discover insights that drive optimal strategy decisions. We answer questions like, “Are we seeing high attrition rates? If so, why? Who is the ideal candidate we’d like to recruit, and why? How can we use data to understand the behavior of people at HubSpot, and how can we use that understanding to make every employee’s experience better?”

How has people analytics evolved since you started your career? Because data and analytics have gained greater prominence across industries, across different functions, and especially in people, it’s gotten proximity to the strategic leadership within people ops or HR, compared to 2015.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job? Keep reading here.

Want to be featured in an upcoming edition of Coworking? Click here to introduce yourself.

Corporate America’s RTO is in full swing, and living-room vibes aren’t the only workplace upgrade awaiting returnees. As IT Brew’s Billy Hurley recently reported, employees’ WFH cybersecurity setups are also coming along for the ride—and experts say that’s a good thing.

The same security safeguards that protected users as they began working from home are still in effect in office environments. Software-defined networks (SD-WANs), for example, enforced access control at home, and they’ll likely find a role in the office, according to Brian Haugli, CEO at the cybersecurity and privacy firm SideChannel.

Other practices that proved effective during the WFH days—multi-factor authentication and tools that monitored suspicious behavior, like a login from an unexpected destination, for example—play a valuable security role in-office, too.

“You still need to control access to your file servers and your email. You can’t remove that now just because people are all together in the same room,” Haugli told IT Brew.

Keep reading here.—BH

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: US job openings fell 10% in August to 10.1 million, according to the Department of Labor. (the Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “What SHRM is reporting in their survey data is not happening, period…I am not aware of any employer that has eliminated their paid parental leave benefits.”—Rich Fuerstenberg, a senior partner in Mercer’s health practice, discussing the results of SHRM’s 2022 Employee Benefits Survey, which suggested that employers were scaling back on paid parental leave (HR Dive)

Read: Recruiters, rejoice! There are signs that the red-hot job market may finally be cooling. (the New York Times)

Vyin’ for executive buy-in: 15Five wants to help HR pros earn executive buy-in for strategic HR initiatives. You’ll also pick up tips on pitching, countering common objections, and more. Get their playbook here.*

Strike a balance: How do you craft an employee benefits package that not only attracts young talent, but also offers suitable benefits for your more seasoned team members? Galleri covers it here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}