When it comes time to hire a new employee it can be a hard decision to make. You will want to hire the most competent and valuable employee you can find for your business success. This can lead to the idea that someone who has a disability, especially one which can be identified quickly, is not high on the list of candidates. Fortunately this is not true, people with a disability can be some of the best employees a company could hire.
There are two factors which are often considered when hiring new staff, competency and overall value. These considerations are not related and need to be considered separately when hiring staff. These two factors need to be balanced by management to maximize the profits for the company.
An employee, disabled or otherwise, may not be the most competent applicant but may have the highest value to the company. Overall value takes into account the employment duration, productivity of others, salary level and long term productivity. There are many things which influence the overall value of an employee which transcends the level of competency of the employee at time of hire.
Disabled employees can be the best choices for future employees for several reasons:
- They are loyal
When hiring employees one of the big considerations is if they are going to be loyal. Loyalty is more than showing up to work daily and doing the job. Loyalty has many aspects to it, some of which are not measurable but can be felt in different ways.
Some characteristics of a loyal employee are:
- They want the best for the company as a whole
- They want the best for other employees they work with and for
- They maintain good relationships with customers as much as possible
- They enjoy their work and try to do their best
- They keep management apprised to changes in their situation
Disabled people can find it difficult to find and maintain employment, when a company has greater insight into the value of an employee and is willing to invest in their employees’ success the disabled employee reciprocates with loyalty and commitment.
- They can be very competent
When hiring employees a business’s first consideration should be whether the applicant is competent in the prerequisites needed to perform in the job. Competency should be the first concern when hiring employees as if an employee cannot perform the tasks they are requested to do then they are not valuable to the company and damages the bottom line.
There are two things to consider when it comes to competency, is the applicant competent enough to perform the job and is the applicant too competent for the position.
The first consideration is an analysis of whether the applicant has the ability to perform the requirements for the position. A disabled person may have limitations here. They may not be able to lift the required weight, manage their time properly or perform other activities the position requires. This is a fair reason why a disabled person may be disqualified for a job but business owners should consider any and all accommodations which may tip the balance towards the competency of disabled applicants.
The other consideration is whether the applicant is too competent. This seems like a contradiction, how can anyone be too competent for a position. This is found in many industries where applicants are overqualified for positions. Someone who is over competent for a position either demands a higher salary to perform the position or they are transitory.
To retain highly competent employees, businesses either pay higher wages or provide other benefits which can be expensive with little return on improved performance. In addition, highly competent employees will not remain in a stagnant position for long and unless the business can continue providing increasing incentives to stay they tend to move on.
The key is to hire applicants who are competent enough but not overly competent as to incur higher wages or other costs to maintain their employment. This is why hiring disabled people is beneficial. If they are competent then they will remain in a position longer than other employees. This leads to lower employee costs through less attrition and hire efficiency due to less training and orientation costs.
Competency does not mean training. Training is education and skill acquisition a company invests in their employees to perform particular actions which are necessary for the company to succeed. Competency is being able to learn the skills basic for the position and have a basic understanding of the skills required for the position. This can be shown by the schooling, experience and projects a prospective employee has done.
Someone who is disabled can be just as competent as those who do not have any visible disability. A disability does not mean that an individual is limited in their ability to perform a job to the level required to fulfill the needed job requirements.
- They help others think differently
Diabled people have a unique set of problems which they need to overcome to succeed. They may have to navigate the office differently, schedule their time differently, perform skills using unconventional methods or generally think in a way different from others.
This leads to three outcomes:
Other employees learn there are other ways to perform their jobs
This is important because we all tend to fall into a routine which helps us to perform our jobs effectively but the methods and routines we have may not be the best most efficient way to complete a job requirement. By having others around who are forced to look at a task in a different way others have the opportunity to consider their routines and make changes where appropriate.
Other employees will have to learn how to relate with others differences
Having a diverse workforce is a valuable asset for any business. It helps the company to pivot when markets change, provides insight into additional products or services a company could develop and keeps the attitude of the company young. Without diversity a company can quickly stagnate and begin to decline.
Disabled employees have no choice about being different as it shows in obvious ways. They cannot walk, talk, see or learn how others do, they may need assistance to perform their duties through accommodations, assistance from others or longer time limits and as a result they force others closely associated with them to think differently.
This is valuable when employees are dealing with clients or other business associates. Being able to relate with the differences of others puts the employee in a better position to have a positive and more profitable outcome.
Provides proof that the company is willing to work with employees
This is often an advertised benefit companies place in job applications but without proof that such cooperation is true it is usually ignored as hiring propaganda. But by hiring those who are disabled and working with them to be productive members of the team a business will prove to their employees that they mean what they said.
- It encourages others to become involved
The inclusion of disabled employees into company personnel provides opportunities for employees to become involved in the support of fellow disabled coworkers. This provides comradery in the organization, bringing teams together which are willing to work together. As this happens team members accommodate more readily for each other’s limitations.
Since we all have limitations, teams with this attitude have a better chance of completing projects faster and more complete than one dimensional teams.
- It improves morale
Company morale is a result of the company’s attitude regarding their employees. Do they trust their employees, are they concerned with their welfare and is there more to their policies than making the most possible amount of money?
Fortunately a high company morale often leads to profitability, businesses which organize themselves around respecting their employees’ needs have to spend less money ensuring their employees are doing what they prescribe. This leads to an openness regarding hiring employees with visible disabilities. It is not that the presence of disabled employees automatically improves morale, instead it is a natural result of respecting your employees, trusting them to do their best and provide value to the company without strict oversight.
When hiring disabled people will not improve company outcomes
The research data shows that if a company has disabled employees on their payroll their attrition is lower, they have better morale and higher productivity. When this data is considered it is obvious to anyone that there are benefits to hiring disabled employees and some businesses take this route without considering a different aspect of the data.
The data was collected from two sets of businesses, one set with disabled employees and another set without disabled employees. This is a biased perspective and is no proof that the existence of disabled employees automatically improves business outcomes.
Companies which hire disabled employees without having to be coerced or forced to have a different attitude of their employees. It is the relationship they have with their employees which provide better outcomes rather than the mere existence of disabled people on their payroll. The existence of disabled employees is not the reason for improved employee relationships, it is the result of better relationships with employees.