Nikki Lancaster Alphonse: Northrop Grumman's Diverse Workforce

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hi everyone, greetings to everyone in the United States and around the world. I was so surprised, as I told you last week, when I found out we've gone from 17 countries with listeners to 27. And wow. So, to all of you from Germany, which has a high listening audience, thank you, Germany. By the way, my mother was German. So, there you go. But thank you so much. From Germany to Russia to China to Saudi Arabia. Now, some of these countries only have one listener, like Saudi Arabia. But you know what? One listener makes all the difference. One listener can change lives. So here's what you do. You go to other people in your country. You find out who is English-speaking to understand the show, you send them to Spotify because all the shows are on demand. And do you know how awesome I think you are doing this? Wow. And I know there are some new laws in Europe, so I hope I am helping you with this show to spread the news. And Richard Roberts, I love you. Uh, in Brazil. He's been with me in Japan and South Korea. I just love him. He's with the State Department. And Gangyang Cho in South Korea. And all of you. And hey, my new friend Ruby at the State Department who has been talking to me about Brunei. So, best to all of you around the world. And as I said, in the United States. What great listeners. This is my 21st year on the air. And thankfully, thankful for Highmark, who is the lead sponsor. But you know, I mean, just all, I'm grateful. As we go into Thanksgiving, I just want you to know how grateful I am for all of you. I thank all of you for being so dedicated to the show and can't leave out, Yoshiko Dart. Yoshiko, lead on, Yoshiko. And you know, Yoshiko, I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for what the late, great Justin Dart did for the disability community. I'm thankful. So with that, I'm also thankful to have my guest on today. And I have to tell you, She is an awesome person. She is just an awesome person. And Nikki Alphonse, I met at Disability:IN again just this past year at the conference in July. And she is just the kindest person. And for all of you people living with disabilities. She got behind iDisAbility full force and has been for years, but wanted to make sure that people that work with people with disabilities understand how to communicate and understand what is fact, what is myth, and what's the whole goal? Break down stigma and people get hired. So thank Thank you so much, Nikki. And you know, every time I have someone on the show, my listeners, someone gets in touch with me and says, wow, that person was awesome. What can you tell me about them? So now I just ask my guests to tell their story, like where you grew up, where you went to school, what caused you to get into HR. So I will turn it over to you, Nikki.

All right, fantastic. Thanks, Joyce Bender. I appreciate the invitation to join you on Disability Matters Worldwide radio show today. I'm very excited to be joining you and your loyal audience members. So a little bit about me. I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, in the United States. I attended the University of North Florida where I received my bachelor's degree in criminal justice, pre-law, and then After that, I went on to obtain my master's degree in human resources management while working full-time. And, you know, it was actually my dad who encouraged me to go into human resources. He knew that I had a passion for helping people, and he thought I would really excel in the human aspect of human resources and the compliance pieces that I love. And he was right. I thoroughly enjoy the inclusion aspects of my job, particularly the disability inclusion. That's a favorite.

Why is that? Why is disability inclusion a favorite?

You know, I think disability can happen to anyone at any time. It is the equalizer, if you will. Someone can be born with a disability, someone can acquire it throughout their lifetime and their working career, whether that's through an accident or an injury or an illness. So many disabilities are not apparent. I have children with different cognitive and neuro disabilities. I worked with some dear colleagues and friends, Bob Betterie, He was someone who had a visual disability and he was losing his sight. We worked together. And so I did— when I started in this area, I think it just struck a chord with me. You know, there are folks that need, need something so that they can bring their best to work. And I had a few non-apparent disabilities myself about a year ago. I had some neck disc replacements, and after that surgery, I started to have seizures. And so at the time I was doing a lot of this work and building these programs and initiatives, I really didn't think that I would need any sorts of accommodation and things in the workplace. But yeah, I think it's really important that we support the folks and the talent that we have. In the workplace so that everyone can bring their best ideas and their best solutions.

Nikki, that is awesome that you stood up as a leader and said, "Hey, I have a disability." There are a lot of people that do not do that or would not do that, but you are a champion by doing that. I always tell companies, get leaders to talk about because there are so many people with disabilities working at the company. They just haven't told anyone. And to hear someone like you with a non-apparent— and being that I live with epilepsy, I certainly know from years ago what it's like to have a seizure. And here you are talking about it. That's what Grey Grunberg, who is a movie and TV star, had these pins made that said Talk about it. Just talk about it. Uh, and just as Nikki said, you are the temporarily able-bodied. You can join our group at any time. I hope it wouldn't take that for you to see how important it is to hire people with disabilities and see people with disabilities promoted where they work and make sure people that are underemployed are employed. So Nikki, Northrop Grumman, I am very appreciative of because you have been protecting our country. And I remember after 9/11 thinking, oh my goodness, it's lucky we have these defense contractors that protect us. But in case the group doesn't know, I noticed on your website how you talk about being, uh, pioneering technologies, and I know a lot of people, they really don't know how huge of a corporation Northrop Grumman is. So would you mind talking about Northrop Grumman, like some of your services, what you do?

Yeah, happy to. Um, thanks for the question. So Northrop Grumman is a leading global aerospace and defense technology company. So our pioneering solutions equip our customers with the capabilities they need to connect and protect the world, push the boundaries of human exploration across the universe. We design, develop, build, and support some of the most advanced products, whether that's a 200-ton airplane that is invisible Or if it's predicting cyberattacks before they happen or solving the mysteries of the universe, wherever the boundaries of possible are being pushed, Northrop Grumman is there. We've got autonomous underwater vehicles like our Manta Ray. There's the B-21 stealth bomber. We have the most powerful telescope ever created, the James Webb Space Telescope. It's really providing some just amazing images. And we do much more. But, you know, our work is to define possible and we push defining the future with that singular focus, accomplishing the impossible.

Wow. Well, that you do. And you are certainly a large corporation. And we're so honored, Nikki, to have you on today. And with that, we're going to go to break. If you just joined us, we have Nikki Alfonso, the Director of DEI Operations for Northrop Grumman. Such a pleasure to have you with us, Nikki. We'll be right back. This is Joyce Bender on Voice America. Don't go away.

Streaming live, the leader in internet talk radio, voiceamerica.com. At Highmark, we believe what makes us different makes us better. Our differences broaden our perspectives and foster diverse skills which complement each other, creating a stronger and more vibrant workforce. It's this belief that earned us recognition by the USBLN and the American Association of People with Disabilities as a 2014 Disability Equality Index Best Place to Work. So we'll continue to celebrate diverse individuals Because inclusion benefits us all. To find out more, visit highmark.com. Since 1985, Bender Consulting Services has served as a national leader in advancing employment of people with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, with private sector companies and federal government agencies. Bender assists customers with achieving their diversity and workforce inclusion initiatives by tapping into a talent pool of individuals seeking professional positions, including those in the STEM fields. In addition, Bender Services include disability employment consulting, training, and technology accessibility through their high-tech line of service. For more information, please visit www.benderconsult.com. Everyone has unique abilities, and with ABLE NOW, individuals with disabilities are able to save money while maintaining certain benefits, such as Medicaid. ABLE NOW is a tax-advantaged savings program specifically designed for people with disabilities. Open an account online today and start saving for the things that are important to you. To learn if you or someone you know is eligible, visit ablenow.com. ABLE NOW is administered by Virginia529. Are you currently receiving SSDI or SSI and wanting to work? Did you know there is a free Social Security program called Ticket to Work to help you try work Without risking your benefits? My Employment Options is an authorized SSA Employment Network specializing in work-at-home and local job placement in 47 states. Our clients receive a personal counselor to help find the best job fit and a staff-certified benefits counselor for help with Ticket to Work protections. Ready to try working? Apply for free job placement help at myemploymentoptions.com. Follow Voice America at facebook.com/voiceamerica for juicy updates from your favorite radio shows and podcasts.

You're listening to Disability Matters. Now please welcome back the host of Disability Matters. Here's Joyce Bender.

Hey, welcome back to the show, everyone. And, uh, Nikki, I just have to give a shout out to Bob Benatar. He is a wonderful person. Friends with me for years. As you said, he's legally blind. He is an awesome individual. So you make sure you let him know, since he shouted out at Disability:IN when I was on stage, "She's a queen," I have to say, "Bob, you're a king." So you make sure Bob hears this. And what a great leader. Right? I mean, at Disability:IN, he was so involved in so many things. So special shout out to you, Bob. I was talking about how Northrop Grumman works to protect our country, but I think that you also focus on hiring veterans with disabilities. Is that correct, Nikki?

Yes, that is correct. And, you know, we are so proud of our company's mission to protect security and and solve some of our customers' toughest problems and prioritize the next generation of technological investment and advancement through aircraft and autonomy vehicles and missile defense, weapons, space, microelectronics. And one of the things that we've always felt is crucial is that we have folks out there that are defending our freedom and our countries and allies.. And we should make sure that we are protecting them with our products and that we give back when they are ready to transition out of the military, that, that we are an employer of choice for that population. And so we're especially proud to be a top employer of veterans. About 18% of our workforce is comprised of veterans, and last year about 21% of our new hires were veterans. We also have a special hiring initiative called Operation IMPACT, and the IMPACT is capitalized. It stands for Injured Military Pursuing Assisted Career Transition. And we started that program in about 2005. It's an award-winning hiring program where we assist military and veteran with service-connected disabilities. We help them to get hired and provide the necessary accommodations. We've hired more than 1,000 veterans more than 600 veterans through the program. Wow. Yeah, provided career transition support to more than 20,000 through a network of champions where we join with other companies to find placement. And, uh, you know, there's a number of different services that are provided from resume support, career transition workshops, webinars, career fair support, uh, and then ultimately the military to civilian career transition support. And so, you know, it's just every day you have wounded warriors that are leaving the military after having served so honorably to our country with distinction. And we want to help support and facilitate that successful transition to the private sector and companies like ours to help jumpstart their next career.

You know, I think that's so important. Anytime I speak somewhere, I always say, do you know someone? Do you know anyone that would put their life on the line for you that you don't even know? Who is that person? I'll tell you who it is. It's a veteran. They don't know you. You don't know them. But how many people would put their life on the line fighting for your freedom. And when I bring that up is because so many veterans with disabilities come back from the war and don't find employment. And to me, that is shameful, absolutely shameful, that you would not hire a veteran with a disability, uh, but You were so happy they were fighting for you when they were overseas. So I applaud Northrop Grumman for what you're doing. I want you all to keep in mind that 22 veterans a day take their life. I remember when I first had heard Ted Kennedy speaking and he said that and I leaned over to my to Mary, who sadly is no longer with us, and, uh, she passed away 3 years ago. And I said, Mary, I feel terrible. Ted made a mistake. He must have meant 22 a month. And she gets out her smartphone and said, no, he's correct. Oh, I mean, that was just so shocking to me. So shocking. You know what changed your life? Employment. Competitive employment changes a life, and I hope you'll be the one to remember what veterans have done for you. Northrop Grumman, uh, well, I know from you and Paul seem very focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities. Would you say that's true, that that's a commitment of the company, Nikki?

Oh, absolutely. So, you know, our— at Northrop Grumman, we believe that creating a team in a workplace that values diversity and fosters inclusion is really essential to promoting the innovation and increasing productivity and profitability. But the goal is really to continually support and nurture the Northrop Grumman employees that we have, whose abilities and backgrounds, their perspectives, they're as diverse as the global communities in which we reside and You were rattling off some of the countries. You know, we have a presence in Germany and Saudi Arabia and Japan and South Korea and Australia and UK. So we're all over many of the countries where you're broadcasting to. And we want to make sure that we're supporting the top talent that is nurturing our company. We want to make sure that we're supporting and nurturing them as well. And so, you know, we recognize that an innovative idea can come from anywhere, anyone. And when you bring a diverse community together, anything is possible. And so we work every day to support that community by providing a strong, inclusive culture that emphasizes equity and access to our entire business. And that inclusive culture of belonging really relies on that commitment to equity and access. For our employees.

Yeah, that is so well spoken. And remember, when you hire a person with a disability, not charity, it's a business investment. You know, when you hire someone with a disability, for example, from Bender, they have to be qualified and they have to get it about the world of work. It's like Tony Cuolo, The author of the ADA and my close friend always says, "Give us the right to be fired." Equal treatment. Equal treatment. No pity. Nikki's heard me say that a million times at Disability:In. No pity. People with disabilities want paychecks, not pity. And for those of you in the disability community, remember when I said that Nikki's the real deal, which obviously now that she's about herself and her family. I would hope that's pretty clear. But she also started the centralized accommodations function at Northrop Grumman. And I, you know, I heard Eve Hill, who's now the chair of the board of the Bazelon Center on Mental Health Law, during the Obama administration, she was speaking at the White House. It just stayed with me. And she said she was with the Department of Justice And she said, if you want to hire me, but your website is not accessible or you do not have accommodations, how can I get through the door? How can I walk through the company? How true that is. So, you know, that's awesome what you did. Tell us about it. How did you start?

Yeah, thanks for the question. I think it It really starts with understanding that your commitment to disability inclusion is because, you know, you want to attract and retain employees of all abilities. They bring value to the workplace, and to that end, we invest in many programs and initiatives and benefits to support our people, like the Centralized Accommodations Program. And so, You know, back in the 2009-2010 timeframe, we were testing the accessibility of our websites and our online application systems. And we were using this cross-functional team. And I described that experience similar to a movie called Shawshank Redemption. And there's a scene in the movie where the Tim Robbins character, Andy Dufresne, Joyce Bender: says to Morgan Freeman's character, Red, so I hear you are a man who knows how to get things. And when he was asking for the rock hammer in the movie, and the accessibility project team really became known as, you know, knowing how to get things to help remove obstacles and to get people with disabilities what they needed in the workplace, and the frequency with which folks were coming to the accessibility project team to ask for what they needed from an accommodation standpoint became fairly regular, and it became clear we needed to have a process in place. So we went to our executive DE&I Leadership Council, and we made that recommendation that, hey, we need to adopt a centralized accommodation process. We made the business case, we had the benchmarking, we had some information that we put forward, and it was approved. Instantly. There was no thinking about it. There was no questions. It was just approved. And so we were a very early adopter and creator of a centralized accommodations program. That was back in 2013, 2014 timeframe. Hard to believe that was over 10 years ago now.

And I bet you saw an immediate change in productivity. I mean, and engagement. I'm sure people were so happy about that.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, you have to make it easy for folks to ask for what they need. Often there's no-cost accommodations that can be provided. You can move a cubicle around. You can provide things. There's no cost for many accommodations. And the ones that you do provide often are with the cost, they're low cost. And so it's an easy win to provide and support the folks who are bringing their best to work every day.

Yes.

And we have some great things in our workplace. We have lactation rooms and prayer rooms. We have personal care assistants. We do a lot of things in the workplace, travel accommodations. There's just, you know, you name it, mobility, vision, hearing. We created a pool of deaf and hard of hearing interpreters and captioners. We have a scheduler. We've done a lot, and I think the COVID pandemic taught everyone a lot. And so we made some enhancements through that process. But just really continuing to support the people is the ultimate goal.

Wow, that is unbelievable. I can't believe how much I mean, you're all over it. Wow. Well, folks, we'll be back with Nikki, but right now we've got to go to our news break on the half hour with our newscaster, Perry Jude Radesik. So Perry, welcome. What news do you have for us today?

Joyce, I, I want to give an update on the U.S. Census Bureau, uh, the disability questions. We've talked about this twice on your show, Disability Matters with Joyce Bender, already, and it was first reported, uh, to your listeners on this show about a year ago. And we've reported that the Census Bureau had announced a proposed change in the questions that they ask about disability. They wanted to move from answering yes or no questions about disabilities to questions that would have asked a respondent to assess their functional limitations. So, you know what the Census Bureau did? They made these without any involvement or consultation with the disability community. So your listeners responded, and they were part of a large effort, a national action to ask the Census Bureau to just hold on, consult with the disability community before doing anything. As a result of that pressure, Census Bureau dropped their plans to change those questions in the American Community Survey, and they agreed to meet with stakeholders. We also reported on your show that then the Census Bureau was having a meeting with the stakeholders on Monday September 30th of this year. Just to bring your listeners up to speed, as a reminder, the United States Census Bureau is really a very vital government agency. They collect and analyze data about the population of the United States. And I mean, it's beyond counting people, right? We're talking about counting demographics like race, like age, income, education, and they have questions related to disability. Why is that important to us? Well, because many federal agencies will look at Census Bureau data on disability to help shape policies and determine how those agencies allocate resources to meet the needs of our community. So then what happened at that stakeholder meeting? So that stakeholder meeting was in September. Over 100 community advocates participated in that meeting in person and online. Advocates shared their personal firsthand experience that emphasized the importance of collecting that accurate data on disability and how those federal programs really do impact their lives. So as I said, the, the Census Bureau is going to not use the changed questions. They're going to continue to use the current disability questions. They also offer to do ongoing meetings with the disability community and continue to seek public input on this really critical issue as they move forward to reconsider what kind of questions in 2026 and beyond. Again, Joyce Bender, advocacy always matters. Whatever it, you know, this is a great example of nothing about us without us, because that's what they did. They changed things without us. So nothing is going to change now. Disability community does have to stay alert for any future notices and meetings from the Census Bureau about the disability questions. If you go to our homepage at disabilityrightsPA.org, click on today's advocacy matters segment, you will find links to why the U.S. Census Bureau asks questions about disability and a link to their report on the outcome of that really important stakeholder meeting. Joyce Bender.

Joyce Bender. Wow, thank you so much, Perry. You know, when you were talking, I thought they were asking about your functionality. Is that correct?

That's right.

And what did they want to know?

They wanted to know the functional limitations. So we're not sure how that would play out in terms of allocation of resources. So right now they ask you, you know, are you a person who is blind? And you answer yes or no. They do, and now they're going to ask the functionality of sight and your limitations. And then I'm not sure how that's going to be used. Are you still a person with the disability if you have low vision or not? I don't know the answer to that. That's what everybody has to work out.

Wow, thank God that that did not happen, because people with non-apparent disabilities would have been really in trouble there. And I want to thank all of our listeners who did respond to that. And I want to thank you, Perry, for being such a great leader. Tony Quello was involved years ago in the census. Yeah. Getting disability on there. Yeah. I remember that. But okay. Well, keep us apprised. Airy of what's going on. And you can see what I mean now, Nikki, how we like to keep everyone apprised because look what happened. So that is phenomenal. Again, listeners, thank you. Thank you so much. So Nikki, as I said earlier, I met you at Disability:IN. What do you think is the benefit to companies listening of going to that conference?

It's a— that's a great question, Joyce, and there's so many benefits. We have a longstanding partnership with Disability:IN dating back to the beginning when the group was called the U.S. Business Leadership Network, USBLN, and before their expansion internationally, but such a valuable organization for businesses to partner with. They do amazing work to help companies advance their own disability inclusion strategies and programming. And I recall a conversation in the very early days with USBLN, and it was Jill Houghton, the CEO, and we were in the hallway between sessions, and we were talking about, you know, let's, let's make sure that this is a premier place one-stop shopping, if you will, for all things disability inclusion related. So, you know, for us, the conference is one week, but the benefits are all year long that you get from the relationships that you have there. And we participate in a number of their councils and committees. I'm on the Reasonable Accommodation Committee. We have folks on the ERG Committee, Employee Resource Group Committee. There's executive sponsors. Sponsors, the procurement council. There's just all these different ways to engage. And we also participate in the Disability Quality Index survey every year. And we have ever since it was a concept and in the pilot program, and we've earned 100% score on that every year as a best place to work for disability inclusion. And that DNI tool can provide companies with benchmarking and insights really gives you kind of the map on, on where you need to focus your energy to up your game in disability inclusion. And I would say at the conference itself, we have anywhere from 50 to 100 employees from our company who will attend every year. And that includes executives, employee resource group members and leaders, employees with disabilities. Folks attend for professional development, We have talent acquisition and hiring managers attending. They're there collecting and reviewing resumes. They're doing interviews. They're making offers. And, and Disability:IN has a valuable source of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics talent, the STEM fields that aerospace and defense and technology companies are interested in. There's next-gen students. So we've had a really fruitful history of hiring from the Disability:IN conference. And we also have really found a lot of value in the Inclusion Works Council. That's kind of, you know, the best of the best companies. They're all on this inclusion journey together. And that gives you that opportunity to interface, to dialogue, to share best practices with other leaders and companies that are trying to build the best culture of inclusion and belonging for their workforce.

And you know what, Nikki, I am so proud that Disability:IN announced that they are in a collaboration with Bender Consulting Services. So what we're trying to do is get next-gen leaders placed, but also just in general, someone calls Disability:IN and says, Hey Joyce, we're looking for an aerospace engineer, something like that. And they called me and said, hey, in this case, could you help with that? But in return for that, I am going to have a scholarship next year at the conference for a NextGen student, which I'm very excited about. But I agree with you, Nikki. Not only that, you interface with people that are doing what you do, and you can exchange ideas. You know, what are you doing? And like, Jill Houghton is a rock star. There's no doubt about that. So, I would encourage anyone listening, if you haven't been to this conference, oh my God. I mean, first of all, I walked in this year, there were 3,000 people. I walked in in the back of the room. And I said, wow, by the time I get to the front, I'll have my 10,000 steps in. And then they had almost the same amount virtual. So, you know, and it's in Florida this year, but if you want to go, I would encourage you to make sure early in the year that you get your reservations made for the 2025 Disability conference, and I'll be excited because it is the 30th anniversary of Bender Consulting Services. So we're going to have a big celebration at the conference. Nikki, one question I had is some people with disabilities that can't find employment end up going out on their own as a disability-owned business enterprise. And as you know, I have my pin, First Dobe, because I was the first Dobe. Now there are 800. What I wanted to ask you is, don't you think it's beneficial that you go somewhere and you normally would not have access to people such as you? And all of these, you know, where can you go I see that happen.

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. We believe that disability-owned business enterprises are so critical and important for our supplier diversity. And a disability, for those who don't know, it's, it's DOBE for short, Disability-Owned Business Enterprise. It's a disability-owned business enterprise that it's a for-profit business with at least 51% ownership managed and controlled by a person with a disability, and whether or not that business owner employs persons with disabilities, that's a separate, right? But we, we encourage and recommend companies and suppliers, vendors to become certified as Adobe. And I actually volunteer with Disability:IN to do the Adobe reviews for companies and suppliers. And there's a lot of companies now that have started to track and report, um, DODI suppliers and the spend. Um, some companies are still in the works, they're getting there, but I would encourage, you know, anybody who's interested in working with a prime or subcontractor to visit the company's website and leverage that search bar feature to find the dedicated supplier diversity webpage. Most large companies have that dedicated program for more information and paperwork that you can apply and submit yourself as a disability-owned business enterprise and join the supplier database. I think it's incredibly important that you are identifying that you are a disability-owned business enterprise.

And you will meet great people like Nikki. I call it the disability gift. I mean, I think about when I first started in my career, I don't know of any place I would go that I would meet all these heads of HR and all these heads of procurement where there they are, you could talk to them. And so if you are a disability-owned business, get certified by Disability:IN. Get certified, get in touch with them. And tell them you're interested in being certified because just as Nikki said, with supplier needs today, you know, companies look for disability-owned business and also some of them are owned by veterans with disabilities. So, you know, you can't go wrong going into that area. So, Nikki, you've done a lot. You're very successful. That means you have to have a spark plug somewhere along the line. So, um, who is your role model, personal or in business or both?

So I think I would say probably my dad. Um, he, he's been gone now 16 years, but, uh, his spirit's with me every day. I have a a little card in my wallet. It says, "Don't you quit," and it has this little poem and saying. And so he, you know, he overcame incredible obstacles in his life. He displayed immense resilience in the face of adversity. And so when he was a child, he fled an abusive environment, and he didn't complete his education beyond the 8th grade. But he was one of the smartest people that I knew. He was just amazing with numbers. He had this ability to compute big numbers and percentages all in his head. And, you know, he had this tremendous work ethic. He had been in the Air Force and then later he went on to become the Southeast Region District Director for the United States Steelworkers of America. And I get joked and teased sometimes, oh, your dad was part of the union and you're in human resources. How is that? And I said, he's the one who encouraged me to go into human resources. He felt like I would really enjoy helping people and so that he liked helping people. He did it in his way and I do it in my way. You know, that was just something that I got that inspiration from, from helping others from him. So really get to enjoy and continue doing good things for people.

Love you, Joyce. That is amazing how some people can overcome adversity. And if he was in an abusive family, and went on, you know, to have this role in unions. That is very impressive. I wonder why he chose human resources for you. I wonder what made him think that.

I think my degree was in criminal justice pre-law. And so, I was partially thinking I'm going to go and, you know, maybe go on to law school or But I really wanted to help people, and I think he was afraid of me potentially going into the criminal justice field. He didn't really enjoy that thought. So human resources, I think he thought, would be a really good fit to help people in the workplace. And he was right. I enjoy it. I love what I do. I get to do great things, put incredible programs and benefits in place. To support, you know, our workforce of 100,000 employees.

So for any young person with a disability listening to the show, do you think that would be a great field for them to look into?

I do. Human resources, you know, as long as we're employing humans, there's a need to support them in the workplace. And so That, that's a field I think there's, there's opportunity to be a generalist. You can be a specialist. You can navigate to what really excites and inspires you, whether that's numbers or data, people analytics. You know, there's just all these different opportunities to support people, compensation, benefits. There's, you know, employer relations. There's all these different avenues that folks can pursue in the field. But really getting in and helping people, if that's at your core, you really can't go wrong with human resources.

And, and I don't think people realize what you just said, how diversified it is, you know, how many areas you can move into. And I'm sure there is an impact on you, Nikki, when you bring someone on board and then you see them flourish and move up in their career. I'm sure that that is something that just gets to you in your heart.

Yeah, absolutely. We, we actually hired a student out of the Disability and the NextGen Talent. She's now a part of our talent acquisition team and she helps bring in the next generation of talent coming into the workforce. And we have a neurodiversity hiring program. She's engaged. We've got several locations that are participating throughout our company now, and we provide job coaches and whatever support is needed. But it's really, really satisfying to see those folks flourish and grow once they're here.

Well, there's anything like— work gives you dignity. You know, work gives you dignity. And until you have work, you're never really free in this country. You can't buy a car, get an apartment, can't live the American dream. But work changes all of that. And I want to say again, before I ask you this, uh, last two questions, thank you so much for being on today. So, Nikki, I wanted to ask you, over the past years. What— I know this could be very difficult to answer, but what would you consider your greatest accomplishment or accomplishments?

It's a good question. You know, I think I've talked a little bit about creating the centralized workplace accommodations program. I think seeing that through to all the different really innovative practices that we were able to put into place, like the personal care assistance, supporting folks that may need a little extra support when they're traveling for the company, providing what's needed in the workplace and virtually if folks are working remotely. All of the different accessibility programs that we've put into place, really providing and making it easier. We have an assistive technology resource suite for our employees so they can go see what all the what the technologies are that are already approved by our information security team. Um, just really trying to make it as simple and easy for folks to get what they need. But I think the more recent accomplishment, um, that I've worked on this year has been around, uh, continuing to evolve our self-identification program. Um, and with all of these initiatives, the goal is to positively impact our, our people and our culture, the lives of the 100,000 employees of Northrop Grumman. And when I think of self-identification, that's really just one piece of that much larger disability inclusion strategy. But it is an area that we continually strive to increase and promote through the storytelling. Your— the update was around the census data and changing the questions around disability. And so, you know, that's an area that we continually try to promote in storytelling and talk about the non-apparent disabilities, the neurodiversity programs that we have. And we've had a series of self-identification campaigns through the years. Our first was in 2014. It was called Inclusion Begins with You. View. And then we had another one a couple years later in 2016 called Count Me In. And every few years we have campaigns. We, we had, I would say, 2.9% was our disability self-ID rate way back in the beginning before we had all these programs and initiatives in place. And so through having the accommodations program and all of the initiatives to support the workforce and coupling that with the campaigns, we've been able to grow our current disability self-identification rate to over 8%. And so we're pleased with our trajectory and our progress, but we believe there is more room for growth. We, we take a bit of a kitchen sink approach with the self-ID to embed it at every possible place to reach the widest possible audiences. So, you know, it's always available to 24/7 in our human resources information system, but we also promote it as part of onboarding, our annual benefits enrollment, part of the accommodation process. When someone submits a request, we provide the link and say, if you haven't already done so, please take a moment to update your self-identification information. When we close out the accommodation request, we send the link again. Um, and then there's the periodic reminders throughout the year to update your personal information. And this year we implemented a new platform to really simplify and put all of the fields together so that when someone is going to update their phone number or their address or their contact information or their emergency contacts, all of the self-ID fields are located there. And we think that's going to make the navigation easier and help us to continue to drive that self-ID percentage and the progress in the right direction. And we're also very conscious about reminding folks that it's voluntary, that it's confidential. We are working hard to increase the transparency of how the data is being utilized in aggregate form and reporting where the information is displayed. It's— we're very transparent. It's in our annual sustainability report each year. We, we publish our percentage of the workforce as well as our hiring percentages. And I think for our disability hiring, it's usually between 9 and 12%. It fluctuates from year to year based on hiring demand. But, you know, just be open about how the data is being reported on and analyzed, and, and that we use that to help improve our programs and benefits and offerings to our workforce. It helps inform us. And, you know, a number of years ago, we added some ABA, Applied Behavioral Therapy, for the parents with children that have disabilities. So it's just an area for us that we continue to we appreciate the willingness of our, of our employees to share that information so that we can continue to provide for them and support them in the best way possible.

Wow.

Well, you do a lot there, Nikki. Well, thank you so much. And you know, uh, we end every show with a quote. I just want to tell you, if you want to hear Nikki, remember, tell someone. It's on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, almost all social media venues. We end every show with a quote, and since it is National Epilepsy Awareness Month, that quote is from Toni Coelho: "Work gives us dignity." This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com/talkback. I'll talk to you all next week.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.