Hiring People with Diversabilities

There are some recurring concerns that we come across in our experience with employers considering hiring people with disabilities, and while quite natural to have these from a business perspective, we’d like to highlight some of these common perceptions and how they are, in fact, misconceptions:

Myth #1

“Employees with disabilities are less productive than their colleagues”

FACT:

Research shows no job performance difference between employees with disabilities and their non-disabled counterparts.

Myth #2

“Employees with disabilities are harder to dismiss for under-performance”

FACT:

Employees with disabilities fall under the same legislation and provisions as employees without disabilities when it comes to lawful termination.  Therefore, they are no more difficult to dismiss than any other employee group.

Myth #4

“Employees with a disability have a high absentee rate”

FACT:

Studies have shown that employees with disabilities do not miss work anymore than their coworkers without disabilities.  Actually, it has been found that employees with disabilities have a better attendance record than their coworkers.

Myth #3

“Employees with disabilities will be a burden to other employees without disabilities”

FACT:

Research shows that inclusive workplaces are more energizing places to work and are actually more profitable long term.  It has been found that 70 percent of young people aged 18 – 26 say a business’s commitment to the community, including the hiring of a diverse workforce, has an influence on their decision to work there.

Myth #5

“Employees with disabilities are more likely to have accidents on the job than employees without disabilities”

FACT:

98% of employees with a disability rate an average or better in work site safety.