About 4.3 million Australians live with a disability, and although the majority of employers are open to hiring people with a disability, far fewer actually do. Many people with disabilities remain unemployed or underemployed.
That’s a loss not only for potential employees or those who aren’t being used to their full potential but for employers as well. People with disabilities are too often an untapped resource that can bring many benefits to your company.
The following are a few of the ways in which hiring workers with disabilities can improve your business in 2022.
Employers told Job Access that adding to diversity in an organisation by hiring people with disabilities is a tremendous source of innovation and fresh ideas.
People who have diverse abilities, perspectives, and experiences helped make individual teams as well as the entire organisation better, they said. A Microsoft manager mentioned that without needed diversity, companies can get stuck in a kind of feedback loop without new ideas and perspectives.
A workforce that reflects the diversity of the wider community helps increase customer loyalty and satisfaction, according to The Australian Network on Disability. You’re able to create better connections when your employees reflect your customer base, which is usually quite diverse.
If you’re concerned that an employee with a disability may need to miss many days of work and may not be able to handle the job, you needn’t worry in the vast majority of cases.
In fact, over four out of five employees with a disability have better attendance than their peers and 90% are as productive or are more productive than other workers, Debbie Brooks, at Work Australia’s National Diversity Employer Manager, told hcamag.com.
Your costs related to absenteeism and sick leave for employees with a disability can be as low as 34% of the cost of their colleagues.
Employers sometimes have the mistaken idea that employees who have a disability will cost the company more than other employees since they might need more time off or other accommodations. This is untrue, however, since recruitment and insurance coverage is lower for employees with a disability, according to dss.gov.au.
This group of employees also has fewer accidents at work and fewer compensation incidents on average.
People with disabilities usually have a positive effect on your overall business. They help create a diverse workforce that results in a boost to staff morale. When it comes to costs, workers with a disability help your company save money through reduced turnover and lower recruitment and retraining costs.
As a Disability Employment Services (DES) provider, Asuria can help with recruitment by matching the right people to your vacancies. And if your company has to make any workplace adjustments to accommodate an employee’s disability, they’re usually of no or very low cost.
For example, Compass Group Australia, a food service company, has over the past two years extended to include 136 people who identify as having a disability. The company benefited as a result of having these employees, and its executive director of human resources said that many workplace adjustments are as simple as introducing more frequent rotation of tasks.
JobAccess has been a source of advice and help with obtaining accommodations such as a vibrating pager. All it takes is a little flexibility to make the arrangement work out well, the Compass Group Australia department head said.
To find out more about how workers with disabilities can help your business, contact Asuria today at 1800 773 338. Through Australia’s DES program, we help Australian workers with a disability find and keep work, and we can help match you with potential employees who are well suited for your job openings.
We can also help support workers and employers if an employee with a disability is experiencing significant challenges maintaining their job. In most cases, however, this isn’t needed, since employees with a disability tend to have fewer work-related issues than their counterparts do.
To learn more about Asuria can empower your business with a diverse workforce, you can schedule a conversation with an Asuria Employment Consultant today.