Recruiting, hiring, and retaining employees with disabilities enables companies to leverage the talent needed while building and maintaining an inclusive workforce, with minimal to no expense. The following, outlined by James Emmett, a disability inclusion expert and lead workplace strategist for Understood, gleaned with advice written in 4 Ways to Improve Your Company’s Disability-Inclusion Practices, published in the Harvard Business Review, will help employers create a welcoming environment where people with disabilities can work and flourish.
Provide training
Ensure employees in leadership roles understand the importance of the disability inclusion initiative and provide all supervisors with tips and strategies for managing people with disabilities. Provide training to all employees to decrease the stigma of being disabled and foster a welcoming, supportive environment. A consultant may be considered for successful inclusion implementation, but is not necessary.
Create a sourcing and retention plan
Employers can reach out to state agencies such as vocational rehabilitation offices or partner with nonprofits that specialize in employing individuals with disabilities such as IGHL, ACLD, The Center for Developmental Disabilities, and the Maryhaven Center for Hope. Even becoming a supporter of these nonprofits puts your company’s name on the radar of applicants who may otherwise feel intimidated or unwelcome to apply due to their disabilities.
Consider alerting the career service offices or vocational rehabilitation offices at local universities, community colleges, and/or technical and vocational schools of your job vacancies, and ensure your recruitment and hiring strategies do not support unconscious bias, which may discourage applicants with disabilities from applying. For example, one-on-one question-and-answer-based interviews for applicants with autism may not accurately demonstrate the strengths required for them to successfully master their jobs.
Offer supports to employees with disabilities
In addition to job coaches provided by disability organizations, employers should consider having internal employees with disabilities in senior positions serve as coaches/mentors to other employees and meet coworkers with disabilities for support.
Provide accommodations, assistive technology, and any other strategies that support employees with disabilities and train supervisors on the different tools and accommodations that are available so employees with disabilities do not have to come up with solutions on their own. The majority of accommodations are free or very inexpensive, according to a survey by the Job Accommodation Network.
Communicate your disability inclusion plan internally
Informing all staff of your initiatives via presentations from leadership, internal newsletters, social media, email, or your company’s intranet builds excitement and support, which contributes to an inclusive workplace. Explain how the plans relate to the overall goals of the company, share success stories, and eventually build a disability brand, with communication branching out to the broader community.
Measure your return on investment
Recruitment costs will likely decrease as job ad placement at local disability organizations are free, retention rates and absenteeism may improve, as companies have found people with disabilities have more longevity in their job placements and have fewer absences. Help offset the cost of training and supports by taking advantage of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), On-The-Job Training (OJT) Dollars, and reap other potential tax benefits for your company for your disability inclusion efforts.
To assist your company in initiating an Inclusive Workforce Program, you may download this very useful manual, Building an Inclusive Workforce, developed by the US Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), which is broken down into four key areas: embracing inclusive strategies, creating an inclusive culture, recruitment and hiring, and retaining and advancing employees.
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