The Big Money in Hiring People with Disabilities

Financial independence is the dream of many of the people with disabilities.  Almost all the people I know want a job.  The key word being want, not have.

There’s a full dance card of reasons it’s tough to get people hired.  Aside from the blatant hiring discrimination, difficulty in securing the right supports, and finding the right job for the person; employers don’t have the dollar sense to see the advantage.

No really!  Employer’s make huge profit from hiring people with disabilities.  There are cold hard facts to back this up.  The economic effect of hiring a person with a disability is referred to as return on disability.  

Employers around the world are reaping the benefits.  Walgreen’s is a classic example of that success.  There strategy hasn’t just helped people with disabilities find employment, its improved the workflow of all employees; regardless of ability.  Not to mention created a huge uptick in profitability.

See the video below for more details on how the return on disability is impacting Canadian business owner, Mark Wafer.

Mark Wafer knows that the cost of hiring a new employee is extraordinarily expensive. Depending on the type of job and salary, a new employee can cost an employer 1.5x to 3.5x their salary before reaching optimal work potential.

The average employee turnover Mark experiences in his industry is 75%.  That’s normal for the service industry.  It’s typically staffed by students and immigrants who see the job as a stepping stone to other work.  By hiring people with disabilities with aptitude and long term interest in the work he’s offering, Mark’s managed to cut that rate down to 40%.  That’s a serious economic advantage.

People with disabilities are graduating at record rates of education and marketable skills thanks to improvements to our education system.  At 1 billion strong, they are a hugely untapped market.  That’s a China’s worth of talent, creativity, and productivity that is mostly missing from our global workforce.

What are your ideas for marketing people’s potential to employers?  What’s worked for you guys?  I thought the One Young World leaders summit had some interesting ideas to offer.  Comment and let me know what you think.