This is the second in a series of articles on integrating people with disabilities into your workplace that will run periodically over the next year. This article deals with the company committing to hiring people with disabilities.
Say you are the boss. How do you get your managers to commit to hiring people with disabilities in your company? It’s easy. Let everyone one in your organization know that it is the policy of your organization to employ, advance, and retain people with disabilities. If you want it to happen, it will happen.
Say you are not the boss. How do you get the boss to commit to hiring people with disabilities?
You can point out the benefits. And, there are many. To begin with, people with disabilities make good employees. People with disabilities rarely change jobs. This means that you will not have an employee looking for their next, better paying job, once they start to work at your company. In addition, you will not have to re-train new employees. This means that costs such as recruitment, interviewing, and down time while hiring a new employee and while the person learns the job, will go down.
Are you afraid of the cost of accommodations? Well, don’t be. Numerous studies have indicated that the average cost of accommodating people with disabilities in the workplace is $500.00 or less. Contrast this cost with the savings indicated above.
In many instances, there is no cost associated with the accommodation. Depending on the accommodation needed, you may be able to use the accommodations already found on the computer they will be using. Among them are the increased font size and the “sticky keys” features.
If you work with clients from your state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Department or Rehabilitation Services for the Blind, the state will pay for accommodations, in most cases.
The next article will cover recruitment.
David M. Little is the President & CEO of Disability Management – Life & Work Solutions, LLC, 315 Lemay Ferry Road, Suite 135, St. Louis, MO 63125, V/TTY 314-638-1200, Fax, 314-638-1205, e-mail, david@dmlsolutions.biz