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Studies Showing the Benefits of Hiring People with Disabilities
- Employers who had made accommodations for employees with disabilities reported multiple benefits as a result, including that the accommodation: allowed the company to retain a qualified employee; eliminated the costs of training a new employee; and increased the worker´s productivity (Hendricks, Batiste and Hirsh, 2005.)
- Employees with disabilities consistently have nearly 85 percent one-year employment retention rates (U.S. Department of Education, 2003).
- Replacing employees is expensive, not only in tangible costs (e.g., advertising, screening, interviewing, training) but also in organizational knowledge that is lost, reports Employer Assistance & Recruiting Network (EARN). Human resource experts (Griffeth and Hom, 2001) estimate the cost of a single turnover ranges from 93-200% of the employee´s annual salary. Employers have found their employees with disabilities to be a loyal workforce, reducing turnover.
- High Turnover Antidote: Hire Employees with Disabilities states that among the most effective solutions to high turnover is hiring and retaining qualified employees with disabilities.
- After an 18-month initiative resulting in the hiring of 170 people with disabilities, Kathy Egan, President of Hire Potential, discovered that "These workers were more committed and were retained on average 50 percent longer than ´traditional´ workers, and our clients were more pleased with the quality of their work and kept them on longer."
- Marriott´s "Pathways to Independence" program shows a 6% turnover among Pathways participants (employees with disabilities), versus 52% overall workforce turnover between 1999 and 2003.
- Employees with disabilities at Pizza Hut have retention rates from four to five times higher than that of non-disabled workers, saving over $8 million through reduced turnover.
- Frank Coombs, owner of a IHOP Restaurant, discovered employees with disabilities are loyal, long-term workers in an industry where high employee turnover is the norm. Training each new employee costs IHOP about $1000, according to Coombs.
- International House of Pancakes franchisee finds operational savings by hiring people with disabilities.
Cost of Accommodation for People with Disabilities:
- A fall 2005 survey of employers and individuals with disabilities found that the median cost of accommodations was only $600.
- The Able Trust Employer Attitude Study demonstrated:
- 73% of businesses reported that their employees with disabilities did not require accommodations
- 61% said that average costs of accommodation were $500 or less
- 29% said $100 or less
- Seventy-two percent of individuals with disabilities reported that their accommodation was made at no cost.
- The Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM) provides a business case for diversity that links success to a diverse workforce. (Employer Assistance & Recruiting Nancy Earp, who has managed facilities for 15+ years in the Fort Worth/Tarrant area of Texas, said that the cost of many accommodations is negligible or the accommodation is required by ADA rules for all companies anyway. When any new employee has any kind of special need, Ms. Earp meets with the employee and the employee´s supervisor. The three of them discuss special needs and plan accommodations. Lighting, desk height, and special telephones or computer keyboards head the list of the most common accommodations and the average cost is less than $500.
Value-Add: Further Business Benefits
Recognizing that people with disabilities are good for business, Cisco CEO John Chambers advocates that employees with disabilities add diversity to a workforce, a factor in improved productivity and creativity (Employer Assistance & Recruiting Network.)
- "It´s about inclusion... it has to do with talent and not ignoring people who could help us achieve our business goals" Jim Sinocchi, Director HR Communications, IBM "[we are] in bidding wars for people with disabilities."
- Branka Minic, Director of Workforce Development for Manpower states, "Manpower is interested in people with disabilities because that´s our strategic position... We continuously analyze labor trends, skills analysis, supply and demand... we are going to face a tremendous shortage of labor."
- A Virginia Commonwealth University survey of 250 supervisors in 43 businesses indicates that supervisors are satisfied with the performance of their employees with disabilities, rating their performance similar to that of their non-disabled peers.
Resources:
Making the Business Case for Hiring People with Disabilities, American Legislative Exchange Council Annual Conference
Exploring the Bottom Line: A Study of the Costs and Benefits of Workers with Disabilities
