Hiring Employees with Disabilities in the United States – How to manage?
People in the United States with disabilities still want and need to be an active part of the workforce. However, in many cases, they can get looked over by companies that may have a position that would suit them. Many companies are not aware that hiring employees with disabilities in the United States can be extremely beneficial to them for many reasons. In fact, there are benefits on both sides that may not often be explored. Hiring a person with a disability may provide many advantages for both the company to hire and the person being hired.
Benefits for the employer
Studies have been done with companies that hire people with disabilities for certain positions in their workforce. These studies have shown that hiring people with disabilities in the United States can improve profitability, competitive advantage, ability awareness, and inclusive work culture. People with disabilities have been proven to have an overall higher job retention rate, which means that they’re more likely to keep the job offered to them longer than others might. They take less absent days and may be more likely to stay loyal to a company than other employees.
There is also a huge untapped market of employees in the United States who have disabilities, with a prevalent talent pool. Potential candidates in this pool might match what you may be looking for to fill a particular job within your company. There also could be numerous great candidates within this talent pool that you just haven’t discovered yet for other positions that might be open.
Fewer Work-Related Incidents
Employees with disabilities are also less likely to get involved in work-related accidents. They tend to be more conscientious and aware of safety issues revolving around their job. This means less time worrying about their employee’s overall safety and worker’s compensation lawsuits for a company.
Many companies may shy away from hiring employees with disabilities in the United States because certain special accommodations may need to be made for those employees. However, in many situations, the company may be entitled to certain tax incentives if they hire an employee with disabilities. These tax incentives and credits are designed to make it more simple for the company to install or create those special accommodations for that employee to be comfortable and safe. Therefore, it is not any extra money out of the company’s pocket to hire an employee with disabilities in the long run.
Workplace Diversity
A huge benefit of hiring employees with disabilities is increasing the diversity of the workplace. Especially in today’s climate, more and more people are becoming aware of just how sheltered they may have been in the past to certain groups of people’s exclusivity. Many people may be looking around their workplace, wondering why it doesn’t look more diverse than it does.
Including an employee or employees with disabilities can change the perception an employee has of the company and outside opinions of the company. Creating a workforce with a sense of diversity and inclusivity can be beneficial to employees in many underlying ways. Hiring employees with disabilities can cause the rest of the employee population to look at things in ways they never would have before and be more creative about problem-solving and solutions to everyday issues.
Good for Business
Hiring employees with disabilities in the United States can overall be good for your business. Aside from the reasons discussed above, the number of disabled persons in the United States and their family and friends represent a trillion-dollar market buying force. If a person with disabilities knows a company also hires people with disabilities and treats them fairly and equally as they deserve to be treated because they are just like the rest of the United States workforce, they are exponentially more likely to recommend that company to their family, friends, and everyone else.
If your company is considering hiring employees with disabilities, it’s been proven repeatedly that the benefits of this decision far outweigh any drawbacks they may have with performing positions. People with disabilities are just like anyone else — they apply for jobs they know they can perform and perform well and have likely thought of solutions for any obstacles they believe may present while performing certain job tasks. If you recruit employees with disabilities today, then as an employer, you may find that people with disabilities are as qualified or more qualified than someone who does not have a disability.
