Disability Employment in the Workplace: Why It Matters

If you are an employer new to understanding the role disability plays in the workplace, you may be looking for guidance and background on the what, why, and how of making your organization more welcoming and accessible to applicants and employees with disabilities.

Consider this your starting point for understanding how hiring workers with disabilities can benefit your organization–and how EARN can help.

People with disabilities account for a substantial number of the world’s population, and recruiting, hiring, retaining, and advancing workers with disabilities is good for America and good for business.

Employers everywhere are learning that people with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, bring workplace benefits including a wider pool of talent, skills, and creative business solutions. They are also recognizing disability employment as an important way to tap into a growing market, since people with disabilities represent the third largest market segment in the United States. So, by employing people with disabilities, businesses can gain a better understanding of how to meet the needs of this important and expanding customer base.

What is often surprising to employers is that most practices geared toward employees and job seekers with disabilities have the added bonus of benefiting everyone.

Disability Employment Steps to Success

1. Foster a BUSINESS CULTURE supportive of people with disabilities with expressions of commitment.
2. Ensure accessible OUTREACH AND RECRUITMENT by developing relationships with a variety of recruitment sources in order to build a pipeline of qualified candidates with disabilities for the future.
3. Ensure TALENT ACQUISITION AND RETENTION PROCESSES, such as personnel systems and job descriptions, are accessible to all applicants and employees, including those with disabilities.
4. Provide the ACCOMMODATIONS employees with disabilities may need to do their jobs effectively, whether that means assistive technology, a flexible schedule or numerous other reasonable accommodations or productivity enhancements.
5. Implement methods for effectively COMMUNICATING YOUR ORGANIZATION'S POLICIES AND PRACTICES internally and externally to demonstrate your commitment to disability employment, as well as provide training on disability-related workplace issues to staff.
6. Ensure a barrier-free workplace by maintaining ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, and take steps to make sure your workplace is physically and digitally accessible.
7. Implement ACCOUNTABILITY AND SELF-IDENTIFICATION MEASURES by adopting written policies, practices, and procedures and tracking their effectiveness in order to identify areas for improvement.

Frequently Asked Questions about Disability Employment