Why corporate disability employment projects take so long to sell

Cases and implementation · 8 February 2024

Signing the contract in this case took roughly three years. Agreeing the operational launch after signature took about two months. That gap says more about large organisations than a list of technologies ever could. Recruitment did not take the longest. Aligning accountability across local leadership, headquarters, procurement, security, legal, HR, operations and external process providers did.

Key points

• Matrix structures and outsourced HR or talent acquisition add boundaries of responsibility. Each boundary must be joined deliberately.
• Sponsors and regular management of milestones kept the project alive through a long decision process. A convincing argument alone did not.
• Once roles, documents and interfaces between organisations were agreed, bringing people into the work was faster than the debate that preceded it.

What this means for a company

The lesson for procurement and the board can be counted in months. Three years of discussion also meant three years of inaction. Once the owners and documentation on both sides were clear, the operational start took around two months. A business case cannot shorten the process on its own. Assigning responsibility at each boundary between headquarters, the local company, suppliers and operations can. Without that, “a long decision process” is simply a polite name for the cost of standing still.

Originally published 8 February 2024.

Further reading

• Implementation
• Expertise and Partners
• Case Studies