A new management approach to human service agencies

Often employees in human service agencies do not see that the mission of their job is to integrate mentally or physically disabled individuals into the community. Rather, they see their job as just that, a job. Such jobs typically entail the minimal amount of work required, since there are usually no measures by which to evaluate performance. The Social Transitions and Employment Project (STEP) is an example of a human service agency that practices management techniques that emphases both outcomes of its employees and the disabled people it serves. By combining a pay-for-performance resource management system with evaluation and assessment of service outcomes for disabled individuals, human service agencies may become more socially desirable to the community at large.