Myths, Facts and Figures
Disability Employment
Presented by: Patricia Guenette,
Vice President of Operations,
Square One
Myths, Facts and Figures
 People with disabilities are the most underemployed people
in the country. People with disabilities are the nation's largest
minority.
Disability Employment
 In order to further understand why people with disabilities are
underutilized and underemployed in America, I have listed
information to help set the record straight on hiring and
employment of people who have a disability.
 The aging of the U.S. Workforce will continue to affect business
recruitment efforts now and in the near future. By tapping into an
untapped candidate pool and hiring qualified people with
disabilities, your business will not only increase in diversity but
utilize a group of people that is projected to grow. Recent metrics
indicate that there are over 13 million working age adults with
disabilities and only 26% are employed.
Myths vs Facts
Myths
 Hiring people with
disabilities can cause an
increase in the company's
insurance rates or workers’
compensation costs.
Fact
 Insurance rates and
workers compensation
costs are calculated solely
based on hazards associated
with a company’s operation
and their previous on the
job accident rates. It does
not account for whether
workers have disabilities.
Myths vs Facts
Myths
 Employees with disabilities
have a higher
illness/absenteeism rates.
Facts
 Recent studies from major
firms show that
absenteeism rates for
employees with disabilities
are not any higher than the
rates recorded for nondisabled employees.
Myths vs Facts
Myths
 The hiring of employees
with disabilities require
expensive
accommodations.
Facts
 Most workers with
disabilities require no special
accommodations. For the
minority that do, 15% cost
employers nothing, 51% cost
employers between $1 $500, 12% between $501 $1000 and 22% cost over
$1000. This study was by the
Office of Disability
Employment Policy Job
Accommodation Network.
Myths vs Facts
Myths
 Person with disabilities are
unable to meet
performance standards.
Facts
 In a study conducted in
1990 by DuPont which
including 811 employees
showed that 95% of people
with disabilities rated
average or better in job
performance compared to
90% for employees
without disabilities.
Myths vs Facts
Myths
 Under the ADA, an
employer cannot fire an
employee who has a
disability.
Facts
 Employers can fire workers with
disabilities as long at the termination is
unrelated to the disability or the
employee does not meet legitimate
requirements for the job, such as
performance or production standards,
with or without a reasonable
accommodation or
because of the employee’s disability, he
or she poses a direct threat to health or
safety in the workplace.
(Source: U.S. Department of Labor,
Office of Disability Employment
Policy)
Disability Employment
New information that you may be interested in hearing about :
The Labor Department proposed a rule on December 8, 2011 that would require most
companies with federal contracts to set goals of having disabled workers make up 7 percent of
their workforce.
Labor officials hailed the plan as an economic game-changer at a time when a staggering eight
of 10 working-age Americans with disabilities are out of the workforce entirely.
The government long has used the leverage of federal spending to promote affirmative action
in the hiring of women and minorities. The new rule would, for the first time, give similar
treatment to people with disabilities. The Labor Department will take comment on this rule
for the next 60 days. The rule would apply to those contractors with at least 50 employees
that have a minimum $50,000 in government contracts. That currently includes about
170,000 contractors in the United States.
Source: Associated Press
Disability Employment
PRINTED IN JULY 12, 2011
MANY EMPLOYERS WANT DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE - IN CONNECTICUT, ONE COMPANY WANTS
MORE DIVERSITY IN ITS WORK FORCE, BUT IT'S NOT FOCUSING ON ETHNICITY OR RACE.
WITH EVERY BOX THAT'S OPENED, EVERY BUTTON THAT'S PRESSED AND EVERY CRATE THAT'S
SORTED, EMPLOYEES AT THIS WALGREENS DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT
ARE BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS; MORE THAN 40% OF THE PEOPLE WORKING HERE REPORT HAVING
A DISABILITY. FOR WALGREENS' RANDY LEWIS, WHAT BEGAN AS AN EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN A
REVELATION FOR THE COMPANY, WHICH NOW PLANS TO INTRODUCE LEWIS' PROGRAM IN ITS
RETAIL STORES. EQUALITY IS AT THE CORE OF WALGREENS' INCLUSIVE HIRING POLICY. EQUAL PAY,
EQUAL WORK, AND EQUAL EXPECTATIONS, SOMETIMES WITH A LITTLE HELP, TO MAKE SURE
EVERYONE CAN MEET THOSE EXPECTATIONS.
THE SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS COST THE COMPANY LESS THAN $25 DOLLARS PER WORKER, AND
LEWIS SAYS WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES HAVE FEWER WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS, LOWER
ABSENTEEISM, AND LOWER TURNOVER THAN PEOPLE WITHOUT DISABILITIES.
Disability Employment
Leveraging an Untapped Resource

Fear and economic concerns are often a factor into people's hesitancies about hiring the disabled. Education and providing opportunity is the
key! Personally, I have found that even after only one try, many people become converted believers in hiring someone with a disability. “ I've
had supervisors who I thought were going to run me over in the street the first three months,” Now I can honestly say they are getting up at
staff meetings and saying, “ I believe in this. It has been something that has been great for me and for the team.“ What's even more interesting is
that many disabled workers show a trait that has disappeared in recent years: company loyalty. They appreciate the fact that they have a job and
they're willing to be loyal to the company.

Advocates for disabled workers say they offer many benefits to employers. The biggest advantage to both employer and employee is that disabled
workers have learned how to be flexible. They're able to overcome adversity and solve problems.

One of the biggest misconceptions around today is that there is nothing anyone can do to help eliminate barriers that confront people with
disabilities. This is simply not true! There are many tools and resources available to the businesses community. Many partners exist in the
community including government agencies and nonprofit organizations who can also leverage abundant free resources and tax credits. Tax
advantage of these valuable services.
When you're looking at hiring qualified employees with disabilities, here are some of the best practices to get started:

Learn about local available resources for training, awareness, and support.

Consider embedding disability components into training for supervisors and new employees, and include disability in diversity training.

Conduct informational interviews.

Participate in job fairs that include minority organizations.

Connect with Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies in your state and work with them on how you can participate; distribute position job
announcements to them.
Disability Employment
 Thank you for your time and attention.
Season’s Greetings
to all!