People with disabilities bring value to workplace
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. With origins dating back to 1945, it marks the federal government’s effort to urge employers to consider the talents of all workers, including those with disabilities.
With unemployment levels nationwide near record levels, the situation for people with disabilities is even more dire. According to the bureau of labor statistics, the national unemployment rate for people with disabilities is 16.9 percent, nearly double the unemployment rate for the general population.
Why could hiring a worker with a disability be beneficial to your business? Here are six reasons:
– 1.Disability doesn’t mean “no ability.” Many people are under the impression that just because someone has a disability, they’re unable to perform a certain task. In fact, people with disabilities have a variety of skills and talents – the same is true of the entire work population.
– 2.Job performance. A 30-year study by Dupont found that employees with disabilities have above average records in job performance, attendance, dependability and safety.
– 3.It won’t affect your insurance premium. Some employers worry that if they hire a worker with a disability, their insurance premium will rise. In fact, insurance rates are based on the relative hazards of the job and the accident history of the workplace, and not on whether workers have disabilities.
– 4.An accommodating environment. Most workers with disabilities need little or no accommodations to perform their jobs. According to the Job Accommodation Network, half of all job accommodations cost nothing to implement. And for those that do require a cost, almost three out of four have a price tag under $500.
– 5.Technology is helping. Technological advances are leading to increases in productivity for all kinds of workers, including those with disabilities. Dictating software, screen readers and special keyboards are just a few of the many advances in the modern workplace.
– 6.What you don’t know can help you. It’s true that we all bring our own life experiences to our jobs. Workers with disabilities often have distinctive perspectives on life based on their own unique experiences, adding to the diversity and vitality of the workplace.
These aren’t the only reasons to hire a worker with a disability. But we hope they’ll get you thinking about some of the many ways that workers with disabilities can be valuable assets to your workplace. We should know; Goodwill Industries is the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of job services for people with disabilities.
Given the solid track record of workers with disabilities, it is imperative that we knock down the barriers that remain in the path toward employment for this valuable segment of the population.
submitted by Tom Feurig, President/CEO, Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida