Disability Dialogue with Employers

People with disabilities have been known as ‘The greatest untapped resource’ yet in January 2019 employment was only 20.5%. I offer a diversity training that explores issues in the workplace and welcomes employees with disabilities in work and society. Some commons problems that companies have are recruitment, retention, and return on investment. While it is true that some alterations may be necessary when hiring employees with disabilities, they are minimal and employees more than make up for the cost. Recruitment- may involve companies attending disability conferences, partnering with agencies, and allowing applicants to demonstrate the essential job tasks rather than holding the traditional interview. Retention- may mean the addition of reasonable accommodations. However, tax incentives defray the costs of reasonable accommodations; and 59% of them are free (i.e. changing break time to coincide with a medication schedule.Return on Investment- shows that employees with disabilities show average or above in loyalty, productivity, morale, reliability, safety and more.