5 Reasons Your Business Should Consider Hiring People With Disabilities

If you’re looking to grow your small business, it’s a great idea to consider hiring people with disabilities. Learn more about the many benefits you can reap by implementing this practice.

Hiring new staff can be a daunting and stressful situation. If you are hiring for a start-up or small company, it’s important you find the right person. You need someone dependable, and someone you can trust.

You spend a lot of time looking over credentials, interviewing, checking references, you want to get it right and make the right choice. Hiring the wrong person can mean you have to go through it all again, far too soon.

Hiring people with disabilities is actually a really smart business decision. It can help you and your business in ways you likely never thought of. Here we will look at the benefits of hiring disabled workers.

Hiring People With Disabilities

Disabilities come in many forms, but it is no reason to overlook someone for a position within your company. Before you hire someone, make sure you are prepared to hire them, that your facilities are accessible and barrier-free.

Depending on their disability, you can ask them in the interview if there are any special requirements they need. Most people are more than able to function around their disability.

1. More Choices

By leaving the door and your mind open to equal opportunity, you widen the pool of talent. You never know where you will find your next star employee, so why limit yourself.

The person with the mental health issues or the person in the wheelchair might actually have a great deal of knowledge and experience for what you need. Check the backgrounds and experience before you see anything else.

They may have trained and worked for many years in the field long before their disability happened. You don’t want to close the door to that kind of talent for you or for them.

2. Reliable

You may have heard this before, but it’s true. People living with challenges have a far harder time finding employment. There is still a stigma surrounding people with disabilities that is hard to shake.

Hiring someone who has challenges means they win. They are going to make sure you don’t regret your decision. They spend their lives proving themselves. They know how hard it is to find the job.

Once hired, they will work hard to keep the job and make sure everything runs smoothly. It’s difficult for them to land a job, they don’t want to have to keep repeating the process.

3. They Have a Different View

Someone who lives with a disability has seen things many people haven’t. They have a different take on life and in most situations. This makes them very unique. it also makes them a huge asset.

‘A fresh pair of eyes’ is great, but a completely different perspective means they see problems and solutions you likely don’t. They face obstacles most people never have to, and they figure it all out.

They can bring those skills to your company, and prove to be a real benefit. Looking at situations from different angles is something we need to experience in order to fully understand. You can view here for more on this topic.

4. Increase Diversity

A small company may only have a few employees, so hiring someone with a disability makes you more well-rounded. Your employees and your customers will both benefit.

Your employees will get a greater sense of teamwork and connection to each other. It makes them more aware of others and themselves. It opens up dialogue and boosts overall morale. It also reflects well in your community.

The customers will see your diversity and will appreciate your commitment. This is a positive sign for increasing your business as people love to see diversity. It’s helpful for all people to see themselves in all situations.

5. Increased Productivity

People with disabilities take less sick time, are far more careful in their work and keep their jobs for longer periods of time. Because they are more dedicated to their work, other employees will feel compelled to do so, as well.

This is really important, as it builds camaraderie with employees and even some good-natured competitiveness, which means more work is actually getting completed. This is good for everyone at the company.

They tend to be less distracted than other employees so they concentrate more on the task at hand. Customers tend to favor business that employs people with disabilities, so revenue will increase, if not be steady.

Teach You

Hiring people who have disabilities can open your mind to things you never considered before. Watching them work, seeing how they interact and overcome everyday small issues can also open up possibilities for your organization.

Learning about one disability makes it easier to learn about more. It removes the stigma and fear about them, which makes for better communication. This means you may be far more open to hiring more people with disabilities.

When you become used to seeing someone with a disability, you stop seeing it and start seeing them. This is important, as you start to disregard disabilities elsewhere, as well. Once you do, then you can teach others.

Open Doors, Open Mind

Finding a job with a disability is very difficult, as attitudes turn slowly. By hiring someone, you can save them from heartache, months, if not years of job searching and depression.

Finding suitable work is tough in any market, more so when you are coming in with challenges. But there is no reason not to consider hiring people with disabilities. The benefits will outweigh the disadvantages, in particular with a small company.

The benefits will be apparent on both sides, for you, for them and for the company as a whole. If you are looking for more information about small businesses and how to improve yours, please contact us.