In this age of low unemployment rates and high demand for qualified employees, transformational change leader Mark Wafer suggests organizations cast wider diversity and inclusion nets.
“Not only is hiring people with disabilities the right thing to do,” says Wafer. “It can have a dramatic effect on a business’s bottom line. In bringing them into the workplace you’re getting a more loyal employee, you’re getting a person that will stay with you longer, you’re getting a person who is more innovative, more productive…” And more engaged.
According to a 2017 Sodexo report, for the 57 million Americans living with disabilities, the largest barrier to quality of life is finding employment. There are 30 million Americans with disabilities of working age but only 20% of them participate in the workforce. Conversely, the unemployment rate for people without a disability was 4.6% in 2016 and 4.1% at the close of 2017.
Owner/operator of six Tim Hortons restaurants in the greater Toronto area, Wafer was an inclusive employer from day one. Over 22 years of operation he hired people with all types of disabilities including deaf, blind, physical, mental health, learning, intellectual, and episodic. Some 200 people with disabilities filled meaningful and competitively paid positions in all areas of the business, from entry-level to logistics, production and management
“As we grew we realized workers with disabilities were never late or sick, required no supervision, worked in a safer manner and never quit. Their turnover was basically zero. I was beginning to see that there was a business case for employing people with disabilities, they were more productive, more innovative.”
Wafer also found his non-disabled employees defied industry average turnover rates by 45%. Given that more than half of the Canadian population either have or know someone close to them with a disability, Wafer believes there’s an engaging appreciation that comes with being part of an inclusive environment.
People like Stephen Hawking and Temple Grandin, though exemplary to the extreme, depict the capabilities of people with disabilities. Add in tax credits, government incentives, loads of other funding avenues and the impact this kind of inclusiveness has on employee engagement, there’s every reason to join disability-friendly companies the likes of Microsoft, Deloitte, Delta Airlines and Neilsen.
Kyle Rawn, a Senior Consultant with Accessibility Professionals of Ontario says when people with disabilities show up for a job interview companies see dollar signs. As a person who is blind, he knows of what he speaks. “People don’t know what’s required to address barriers. How is the individual going to see the computer screen? Access the info they need to do the job? Is the organization going to need to buy a special computer? Special software?
“I use a regular computer with assistive technology. JAWS (job access with speech) has a one-time fee, but if you go through proper channels, there’s no cost.”
Accessibility and disability inclusion in the workplace is more than ramps and elevators, beeping crosswalks and assistive technology that reads stuff on computer screens out loud. It’s about welcoming people with disabilities into the workforce and reaping a level of employee engagement second to none. Rawn offers these eight tips to help your organization tap into a talent market ripe for picking.
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