10 Tips for Employers that Hire People with Disabilities | Disabled Person
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10 Tips for Employers that Hire People with Disabilities
Despite how far the world of business has come and how
much our society has progressed, disabled professionals still struggle even
with their daily activities. There is a lot of discrimination and stereotypes
that prevent disabled specialists from succeeding professionally.
That being said, many companies are taking the right
steps to accommodate the needs of disabled employees. If you are a disabled
professional yourself, this article will help you find your career path. If you
are an employer looking to hire a disabled professional, these tips will help
you make the necessary adjustments to your business strategy.
#1 Identifying Career Paths
First of all, it is important to identify
the career paths of your disabled employees. What are
their strengths and weaknesses? What are their dreams, goals, needs, and
interests? Essentially, when you are discussing their career opportunities, you
are doing the same thing you would do with any other professional working in
your team.
On the other hand, if you are a disabled person, you
need to understand what you want to achieve career-wise and how you can do
this. Depending on what your limitations are, you might need more or less
assistance in pursuing your dream career. Many employers will be glad to help
you with this, but sometimes, you might need to be the one to educate them
about your situation and aspirations.
#2 Training Current Staff Members
As an employer, you can’t start hiring disabled
employees if your current team doesn’t know how to work with such
professionals. Of course, in many cases, adequate and educated people will be
respectful and considerate towards their disabled coworkers and will treat them
just as they would anyone else. However, this is not always the case.
This is precisely why your HR manager has to take the
time to organize some workshops or seminars where your current staff members
can be trained on how to work with disabled employees. This is particularly
important if your sector involves a lot of physical work that may not be easy
to complete for a disabled person.
#3 Adapting Your Policies
In addition to training your current employees, you
should make other major changes within your company. For instance, you need to
adapt your policies accordingly. In some cases, companies don’t have any kinds
of policies or rules outlined specifically for disabled employees.
Think about the special needs of certain disabled
professionals you will hire. Perhaps some of them can only work part-time while
others require additional vacation days. There may be certain practical aspects
as well (e.g. purchasing special furniture for the office).
#4 Training Disabled Professionals
As an employer, it is your responsibility to help your
employees grow, develop, and improve their qualifications over time. Obviously,
this approach is true for disabled employees as well. When you hire disabled
employees, you will need to train them either with other employees or provide
them with individual training (e.g. when the employee has learning
disabilities).
To help you create the learning materials for your
disabled employees, you need to hire a professional writer from the custom
writing reviews site Best
Writers Online. An expert comparative
essay writer can help you personalize the learning
materials based on different employee needs and their individual situations.
#5 Being Inclusive During Discussions
It goes without saying that every employee wants and
needs to be heard. But even though many companies nowadays try to be as
inclusive as possible, there are still many cases when employees feel excluded
from discussions and not valued at work.
To avoid such situations, always try to be inclusive
during discussions. Actively get your disabled employees to engage during
brainstorming, but don’t make it awkward. Disabled people don’t want to be
treated like children – after all, they are individuals just like anyone else.
#6 Working with Employees Individually
Speaking of treating your disabled employees as
individuals, you need to realize that not every one of them is like the other.
Thus, you need to approach each of their circumstances separately.
For instance, a blind employee, even working with smart money,
will have different problems compared to someone who is deaf. Moreover,
disabled professionals might have vastly different education levels and
experiences which is why you need to take into account a variety of factors to
help them succeed at your company.
#7 Teaching Social Skills
One thing you should definitely dedicate some time to
is teaching
social skills to disabled employees. While some disabled
employees may be more socially adapted than others, a lot of them have had
negative experiences in the past that might make them feel less eager to engage
with their co-workers.
To help them adjust socially, you can hire a
professional job coach who will teach them the social skills that will help
them succeed at work. These range from communication skills to emotion
management.
#8 Getting Feedback from Disabled Employees
As mentioned above, you should always aim to include
your disabled employees in discussions and help them feel valued and accepted.
In addition to that, it is essential to get feedback from disabled employees regularly.
By getting feedback from them, you can better understand what works and what
doesn’t as well as what else you can do to help them succeed at their jobs.
It’s a good idea to create a survey with the help of a
professional writer from the writing services site Writing
Judge. Such surveys can be used on a monthly or quarterly
basis to keep improving the working environment for your disabled team members.
#9 Creating New Opportunities
Even the most experienced and socially adjusted
disabled professionals might not be able to advance career-wise for years. The
reason for this is the same with any other employee – there are simply not
enough opportunities that could help a disabled professional to showcase their
skills and finally shine.
Therefore, as a responsible employer, you need to
create such opportunities for your disabled staff members by offering them
projects they would enjoy. If you are a disabled professional yourself, try to
actively seek out such opportunities and voice your thoughts to your manager.
#10 Improving and Adapting Continuously
Last but not least, don’t forget to always strive
to improve your company to make it a more inclusive and
collaborative space for employees with different backgrounds and abilities. Company
culture is incredibly important for the success of your business – more so than
you probably consider it to be.
As a disabled professional, don’t disregard
self-improvement either. By constantly learning from your colleagues, upgrading
your qualifications, and challenging yourself, you can become better at your
job. In long run, such a hardworking approach will pay off and you will be able
to have a successful career in your chosen field.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, disabled professionals can be very
successful in their chosen fields, but companies need to be more willing to
work with such talent. It’s not that difficult to make the necessary
adjustments within your company to accept such employees. Use the tips in this
article to help you change your company for the better and start working with
disabled workers. And if you are a disabled professional, don’t be afraid to
pursue your dream job.