A growing trend all over the world, recruitment of differently- abled employees has been on the rise over the last few years. Companies are coming to terms with the various benefits of hiring disabled employees, starting from the leverage derived by making it part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to tapping a large pool of talent in a talent-starved economy. The following article is going to discuss about why it makes sound business sense to hire the physically challenged. It will talk about how organizations can depend on differently- abled individuals and benefit from their hiring in the long run.

What They Bring To The Table

The trend of disability employment can be seen gaining traction in countries like the US and India. Companies have been actively hiring an assortment of employees to boost their presence and to reach different levels of effectiveness. An increasing number of employers are now beginning to understand the advantages of hiring disabled persons, some of which can be observed in the form of key attributes they bring to the workforce –

Loyalty Hiring people with disabilities gives them hope and they in turn strive to show distinction, not just perform the bare minimum. These individuals show up regularly and are happy to work for you. They are proud to do meaningful work and gain a sense of accomplishment in the process. They are loyal towards their duties and yearn to make you proud and receive appreciation. Such loyalty can only be earned.

Optimism They respect their job and feel their contribution is bringing positive changes, which is true. Their light spreads to all the employees, inspiring them and keeping their spirits high. They teach you not to take yourself too seriously or crib for your failures. If they can do it with a smile, you can do it too.

Perspective Diversity in a business always helps you see things from different perspectives. Disability recruitment allows you to think of ideas that wouldn’t normally come to you. The judgment and opinions of regular employees may usually be clouded or driven by personal motives, while physically challenged employees often see things from a clear, unassuming and uncomplicated perspective. This can help you take a giant leap and turn into a market leader by coming up with something unconventional.

CSR

Despite the presence of differences, everyone must work together in harmony. As an employer, you should consider employing developmentally disabled employees and make such a recruitment drive part of your regular CSR. The social pillar of CSR helps nurture a positive corporate atmosphere, cultivate employee benefits and promote employee identification with the organization. Such kind of an initiative should be treated like a long-term investment that helps a company work on its image and marketing as a whole. It is the answer to issues like unemployment and declining labor participation rate.

However, in spite of being labelled as a useful yet untapped reserve, many economies including Czech Republic have been time and again reproached for only superficial compliance with the needs of disadvantaged workers. Hiring of the disadvantaged till date remains a voluntary decision but brings productive results in the form of fulfilment of social dimensions and progress in the internal relations in a company.

Differently abled persons are now capable to work effectively owing to the eradication of physical and communication barriers in the modern society. This has had a favorable impact on the inclusion of disadvantaged employees.

Do’s and Don’ts While Recruiting Disadvantaged People

Companies who seek to expand their horizon by recruiting differently abled staff should understand that they are more sensitive than the regular interviewees. Your treatment can leave a deep impression on them, so make sure you are kind and compassionate.

DO the following…                                                                                

  1. Make sure you give him an outline of the complete hiring procedure with the details.
  2. Politely ask if the person has the experience and skills to do the job.
  3. Make reasonable adjustments like re-scheduling the interview or carrying it out in an alternative way, if required.
  4. Consider treating this person more favorably. Equality laws allow you to treat a handicapped candidate more favorably than a non-disabled one.
  5. If you are going to take a test, tell the applicant in advance. Give him/her an estimated duration for which he will be tested and interviewed.

DON’T do the following…

  1. Never refuse to interview a candidate because of his disability.
  2. Don’t ask health-related details and questions (like how many sick leaves does he need) before offering the job. If you must to know, courteously ask if the person has any special demeanor requirements.
  3. Let go of unnecessary requirements that can discriminate or are non-essential for the job. For instance, you can avoid asking for his driving license if you’re interviewing a visually impaired candidate for a job involving little or no travel.
  4. Your job posting must never state or imply that the position is unsuitable for disabled individuals.
  5. Do not have preconceived notions about who is suitable and who’s not.

As your business grows, you will need a larger headcount and there would be more roles that could be a good fit for the lesser privileged. Companies may offer to hire people with disability for article writing, affiliate marketing, mystery shopping and survey work, internet auctions, back office or data entry jobs. Count on them and they won’t let you down.

Swati-SrivastavaAuthor – Swati Srivastava is an avid writer with a keen interest in the extensive domain of job search and career counselling. She is Assistant Manager Content at Naukrigulf.com (a part of Infoedge), her articles are published on several reputed job search portals and online career magazine.