It's February - the month we are all talking about love. So, in honor of St. Valentine, we are sharing a few of the many reasons why we love employees with disabilities.
Employes with disabilities bring considerable skills into every workforce.
According to research from Return on Disability, 90 percent of companies have a diversity initiative. But only 4 percent have a disability initiative. Here’s what the savvy 4 percent know that you don’t.
1. Problem Solving. Living with a disability teaches a person how to look at multiple approaches to get things done. Because barriers exist, people with disabilities are outstanding at finding alternate routes, backup plans, mitigation strategies and creative solutions. This reflects in their approach to workplace projects.
2. Project Management. When not all workplaces, housing, transportation, shops and facilities are accessible to you – you plan ahead. Brilliantly. When you need to manage life with a disability, you become naturally efficient. Disabled employees come with built in quality control expertise. Their life skills train them to help avoid costly mistakes and delays.
3. Excellent Team Members. Studies show employees with disabilities have a 48 percent greater tenure, higher than any other diversity group. Employers large and small know the staggering cost and time put into recruiting, onboarding and training new employees. People with disabilities do not leap from job to job. They become part of your fabric growing and evolving as your company does.
4. Increased Market Share. When people with disabilities give input on ease of use, and accessibility – they are giving invaluable advice on growing your business. Making your products and services accessible and inclusive will increase sales. Cumulatively, companies spend billions of dollars on maintaining and increasing the market share for products and services. People with disabilities represent the largest untapped markets on the planet. 1 in 4 people will experience a disability in their lifetime. Add in their friends, family, caregivers and associates and that’s more than 1 billion people on earth. Do you really want to leave a billion people out?
5. Universal Design is Good Business. Some of the world's greatest innovations were designed for people with disabilities AND proved to be beneficial for everyone. Captioning on TVs and movies, voice to text, text to speech, automatic doors and other inventions created for people with disabilities – now are essential for everyone. Who hasn’t watched a movie with captions, or captured a brainstorm on their phone? Disabled employees create solutions for better access, inclusion, comfort, efficiency, or mobility -- these skills can be the next idea/solution for global innovation.
These are the top reasons why we love working with organizations to educate them on the benefits employees with disabilities bring to every workforce. Once you understand how to accommodate and empower employees with disabilities, you will realize employees with a disability are a valuable part of your workforce.
If you want to learn more about hiring the best and brightest. Contact me for a 30-minute chat on where/how you might get started. meg@globaldisabilityinclusion.com.
Comments