For Americans with disabilities, finding work can be a challenge, as employment can be harder to find. Unfortunately, persons with disabilities are frequently not considered potential members of the workforce. A great percentage of working-age persons with disabilities are in fact unemployed.
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits discrimination based on disability, it is still not enough. There are still employers that fail to provide reasonable accommodations for their disabled employees. Even the proposed Labor Department rule by the Obama administration to have at least the Federal Government actively recruiting and hiring persons with disabilities is not always respected. These measures would help increase the number of disabled people in the workforce whereby lowering the unemployment rate for such workers.
The real obstacle lies with employers, as many are still hesitant to take on employees with disabilities because they believe they may create problems in the workplace and fear their job performance, quality and quantity of work will be an issue.
“As of April 2014, the unemployment rate among those with disabilities was more than double the general population rate — 13 percent compared to 6 percent,” noted a BenefitsPro post this week about employers who struggle to accommodate disabled workers. The figures taken from the Families and Work Institute’s (FWI) 2014 National Study of Employers (NSE) in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, show that many people with disabilities are unable to find employment despite their qualifications and background.
According to the FWI and SHRM’s analysis, several factors work against a prospective employee with a disability: Seldom do companies offer the flexibility many disabled workers need; they often do not provide reasonable accommodations to allow disabled workers to perform the essential functions of the job. Yet, businesses can capitalize on the talents of qualified people with disabilities by maintaining a flexible and inclusive work environment.
As per the BenefitsPro post, “The study found that 50 percent of companies surveyed had no formal staffing plan, which meant none of those employers had any formal guidelines for including workers with disabilities in their staffing matrices. About four in 10 did have formal staffing plans that included provisions for hiring and retaining those with disabilities.”
The 2014 NSE shows there are organizations that still don’t consider the full potential of people with disabilities and expect them to under-perform in most areas of their duties. The BenefitsPro post points out how the main obstacle to including disabled workers in companies’ staff is the lack of flexibility. “Task flexibility” in a workplace needs to be a vital component of a corporate policy that would encourage the hiring and retention of more workers with disabilities.
Today, however, employers have ways to engage in more proactive planning and are able to put more effort in reinventing the way work is done thanks to flexible work arrangements and technology. Telecommuting and/or working from home are apt ways for a business to become “disability-friendly.” Such an arrangement can benefit disabled employees by allowing them to find employment that matches their skills and abilities, but benefit also companies who can have access to a wider pool of candidates and can hire capable, qualified and motivated employees regardless of physical capabilities.
Workers with any disability (physical or mental) can be part of the workforce. In many cases, the disabled are successful when given the opportunity to succeed. Telecommuting is on the rise, a great way to integrate disabled workers into the workforce is through the use of conference call services.
In sum, it will take a collaborative effort to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Today’s employment issues for such workers can be solved by organizing and making services available based on a determination of the individual's needs. With the right support, everyone can be a highly valued employee.
Edited by Maurice Nagle