Whether you are a business or an individual reading this, Trillium recognizes you are navigating challenging times related to COVID-19. We remain committed to creating inclusive community and employment opportunities—even when it looks and feels different during this public health crisis.
Understanding Your Needs
We are contacting businesses and clients more frequently to understand how we can best support you. Public advisories and policies are changing daily, so we know that your situation is also changing daily.
You might not know what you support need yet exactly, but call us and we can brainstorm with you. Please reach out to your Employment Consultant today.
Leveraging Technology
In the last few weeks our staff have exponentially increased their skills and fluency with technology, learning ways to learn, remote coach, and stay engaged with our stakeholders.
If you are feeling disconnected, our Employment Consultants have loads of creative and affordable ways to use technology to keep making progress on your goals. We also can share resources to help you access technology!
Essential Services
Supporting our job placements falls under the Governor’s essential services. While many of our staff are working creatively from home, we are still going to workplaces when an employer or employee has requested our support to ensure success. Our staff are following all precautions to ensure public safety while in the community.
We thank each business and employer that is operating to ensure essential services are offered to our communities. And kudos to companies that have been reinventing themselves to meet COVID-19 demands.
Testimonials of Support through COVID-19
“We’re used to seeing Jeffrie and Daniel’s job coaches on a regular basis. During the COVID-19 situation, we generally have been calling their job coaches when we need Jeffrie or Daniel to come in on one of their days off. It’s nice to have Trillium’s assistance getting their participants to come to work when they’re needed. Both Jeffrie and Daniel have worked more hours in the past three weeks than they’re used to. They never complain, and are on time and ready to work each and every shift.” – Front End Person In Charge (P.I.C.) Jamae at Fred Meyer in Tacoma
“I love working with MJ, she is always upbeat and willing to take on any task. I haven’t worked a lot with Zach personally, but whenever I see him, he is staying busy and always helping customers and his co-workers.” – Supervisor, Sue, at the East Main Safeway in Puyallup
“We are continuing to support Brian at the KCLS Federal Way Library during the stay at home order. He is included and participates in our weekly page meetings and staff meetings via Microsoft Teams. We also value Trillium’s support during this time.” – Assistant Operations Manager, Tasha D. Bentley, for King County Library System (Southwest Region)
“Terry is a loving and caring individual, who takes pride and providing care to staff and patients alike. He is on the front lines doing his job with a smile. Thank you Terry for preventing the spread of COVID 19.” – Cecil Richardson, manager at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center
Evan is celebrating 7 years as an Assistant Mechanic at Iron Horse Truck Services on May 1st, 2020. During these interesting times he continues to work at Iron Horse Truck Services. They are essential to keep trucks out on the road delivering the goods we all need. The owner Willy Sherrif describes Evan as a “very amazing asset to the daily operations here at the shop”.
“We have two Supported Employees at Kitsap County. One of our employees was not able to work during the shut down from March through April. Her job coach was instrumental in helping me to communicate with her and her family, and to maintain contact with her during that time. We have been able to bring her back part-time in May, and the job coach has been onsite to be sure she understands new assignments and work for her and to help transition back into the workplace. Our other employee works in Superior Court and since the courts remained open we were able to continue to bring her in. This employee had just started employment when the stay at home orders came, so the work and the work environment changed almost immediately. The manager and the job coach corresponded regularly to ensure the employee felt comfortable in the work environment and understood her daily tasks. The manager communicated to me how valuable the ongoing communication with the job coach was, and knowing that if they did run into any issues the job coach was available for immediate assistance. This was especially important since this employee was new and this department had never had a Supported Employee before. We really appreciate our Supported Employees, their job coaches, and the team that we form with them!” -Keri Sieckowski, Human Resource Supervisor at Kitsap County
“Skylar is a valuable addition to the Superior Court family, a quick study in everything we have assigned her to accomplish. She has successfully completed long-term projects in far less time than we had contemplated. Skylar diligently approaches all tasks with a can-do attitude, yet with the intuition to ask good, focused questions. Her transition into the Superior Court has been seamless due, in large part, to the initial and continuing, comprehensive support of her job coach and the Trillium team. A great partnership, and a truly valued member of our Court team!” -Frank Maiocco, Kitsap County
“Ben has been great during these hard times with covid-19! He has brightened many of our customers days. He continues to persevere even with all the changes we have made around the shop. Ben proves to be one of our most dedicated employees and we want nothing more to then to continue to have him on our team!!” – Janese Seidu, Manager at Nekter Juice Bar in Hazel Dell, Vancouver
“Jason is always so happy to cover extra shifts or help in any way needed…he’s a real trooper!” -Cathi Agard, owner of Pioneer Feed in Clark County
In the last year that he has worked for me Tony has integrated himself into our local and store community to such an extent that we couldn’t imagine our store without him now. Tony has taken the time to learn every associates name and goes out of his way to say hello to them during every shift. His persistent, ever present, smile and natural out-goingness elevates and uplifts everyone he comes in contact with customer and associate alike. He takes time to learn new tasks, he asks questions to better understand the environment around him, and takes ownership of his projects assigned to him and always asks how he can help more. – Nic Ulrich, Customer Service Manager at the Maple Valley Fred Meyer
Chad Poissant is an everyday hero at Holy Redeemer. Five days a week he cleans and sanitizes everything people might touch so that we can keep everyone safe and keep the Church open for people to worship God! Everyone is impressed with how thorough he is as well as his reverence and respect for the importance of his job. Way to go Chad. -Ed Brands, Administrator at Holy Redeemer Catholic Parish
Matt has exemplary customer service skills and is instrumental to our daily flow. Through his hard work and passion for going above and beyond, he is an essential component in making it easier for the rest of the team to get their jobs done! We value his positivity and outgoing personality as well as his ability to greet everyone with a smile, going out of his way to meet their needs. -VanCare Owner Elaine and HR Manager Cait
“During our partnership with Trillium we have seen our business flourish and survive even during a world-wide pandemic. The services provided by Trillium including guidance in recruiting, interviewing, on-boarding and ongoing employee development have enriched our team and made us an exceptional hotel. We look forward to a long-lasting employment relationship.” Jeff Schall, General Manager, Country Inn and Suites Seattle Airport
“Working with Trillium and supported employment has been a joy. Jason is a pleasure to work with and always comes to every shift with a smile on his face. Our employees are always happy to see Jason and converse with him throughout his shift.
Jason’s hard work and dedication puts a smile on the faces of the other staff and management, and without him, our kitchen wouldn’t be nearly as effective. Jason’s thorough work coupled with Doug’s on-the-job coaching allows myself and my other kitchen staff to complete our jobs without any hinderance.
I can’t picture a day going remotely as efficiently without Jason’s presence at Whiskey Gulch. ” – Noah Mathis, Head Chef and Hiring Lead at Whiskey Gulch Coffee Pub, Port Orchard, Washington
“Trillium employment services are a very important part of this community. Without such services we would not be able to have such a valuable employee like Scott. They provide much more than support for the business, they provide life changing services to the employee. Scott has become part of our KTAC family and the staff and members are quite fond of him.” – Katrina Fulkerson, General Manager, Kitsap Tennis and Athletic Center
“We have two Supported Employees at Kitsap County and we are hopeful to grow the program further in 2021. Supported Employment has had an incredibly positive impact on the workplace culture for Kitsap County. Our Supported Employees are positive and contributing members to our teams and have happily taken on whatever tasks we assign to them. This has assisted us with getting through backlogs of work that have long been on the “back burner”. The Supported Employment program works well in that the job coaches are there for both the employer and the employee and fill a valuable role in that team dynamic. For example, one of our employees was not able to work during the COVID shut down from March through April. Her job coach was instrumental in helping me to communicate with her and her family, and to maintain contact with her during that time. We were able to bring her back part-time in May, and the job coach was onsite to be sure she understood new assignments and to help transition back into the workplace. Our other employee works in Superior Court and since the courts remained open we were able to continue to bring her in. This employee had just started employment when the stay at home orders came, so the work and the work environment changed almost immediately. The manager and the job coach corresponded regularly to ensure the employee felt comfortable in the work environment and understood her daily tasks. The manager communicated to me how valuable the ongoing communication with the job coach was, and knowing that if they did run into any issues the job coach was available for immediate assistance. This was especially important since this employee was new and this department had never had a Supported Employee before. We really appreciate our Supported Employees, their job coaches, and the team that we form with them!” -Keri, HR Manager at Kitsap County
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