Diversity Hiring: Employing people with disabilities correctly
By Merritt Carey, Esq. & Larry Glantz
HRTimes, Summer 2008
WHAT IS DIVERSITY AND WHY SHOULD BUSINESS CARE?
The word diversity has, like many catch-phrase words, come to have a particular meaning narrower than its actual definition. In the workplace, when we talk about “diversity” we often think of gender or ethnic diversity. But diversity is inherently more inclusive and encompasses race, gender, age, language, physical characteristics, disability, religion, and sexual orientation, to name a few. While these attributes may be relevant to certain cultural characteristics, they are irrelevant to an individual’s ability to perform a job well. By expanding the definition of diversity and making strides to diversify Maine’s workforce, we can ready ourselves for tomorrow’s business landscape and help foster a strong and dynamic Maine economy.
As the nation’s largest minority – comprising almost 50 million individuals– people with disabilities contribute to diversity, and businesses can enhance their competitive edge by taking steps to ensure people with disabilities are integrated into their workforce and customer base. Disability is a category an employee can enter at any time, through illness, accident or aging. As the workforce ages and more wounded veterans return from iraq and afghanistan, our workforce will become increasingly “disabled”. Businesses that have proactively sought ways to integrate employees with disabilities into their workforce today will be better prepared for that reality. Taking a proactive approach and creating a diverse and dynamic workforce now will lead to a competitive advantage in the future.
So, how does a Maine business go about diversifying its workforce through hiring people with disabilities? The following steps offer a practical guide to better prepare you for tomorrow’s business climate.
Follow the links below to read through the article:
COMMIT TO BEING DIVERSE
SEEK OUT NECESSARY RESOURCES
DO AN INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
DIVERSITY AWARENESS TRAINING
CHANGE YOUR RECRUITING PRACTICES
BEGIN HIRING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE: TIPS FOR INTERVIEWING AND HIRING
ENSURE YOU HAVE A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT
CREATE ON GOING ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES TO ENSURE SUCCESS
CONCLUSION
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
LOCAL RESOURCES
HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTANTS
PUBLICATIONS
VIDEO
COMMIT TO BEING DIVERSE
Just like anything else in business, to implement meaningful and
lasting change, a business must commit to seeing the process
through. This means senior level management buy-in. If there
is no buy-in at the top level, it’s likely the initiative will fail.
Without top-level buy-in, you’ll get a theoretical commitment with no support. This is an all too familiar scenario. A policy is implemented in writing but nothing else changes: a memo that embraces diversity alongside a
workplace culture that does not.
If you’re reading this article and you’re a manager who believes diversifying
your workforce would be good for your company but are fearful the
idea will not be well received by your colleagues or upper level management,
here are some strategies for you. First of all, educate yourself on
why having a diverse workforce would be beneficial to your business. Of
all the benefits of having a diverse workforce, which ones will be most
significant to your company? In other words: make your case for diversity.
Once you’ve established why diversity will be good for your company
(and it will!), begin spreading the word. This can be done both casually through conversations with colleagues and more formally by requesting a meeting with senior management to pitch the idea.
When it comes time to pitch the diversity idea, be sure you have relevant
documentation to support your idea and a plan that makes the
process palatable for top-level management. Once your company is committed to diversity at the top, the following steps will help you attain your goal in a seamless manner.
SEEK OUT NECESSARY RESOURCES
There are a host of resources you should look to when beginning
the process of diversifying your workforce that range from
human resource consultants to organizations. Organizations
such as Working Together: Expanding Maine’s Workforce
(www.expandingmainesworkforce.com), the Diversity Hiring
Coalition of Maine (http://meshrm.shrm.org, click on “Diversity
Resources”) and Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility
(www.mebsr.org) are just a few examples of the resources available
here in Maine. The sidebars for this article include a comprehensive
list of resources, along with contact information and
descriptions to help familiarize you with what’s available. You
should make contact with any of the organizations you think you
might use, see if they have any written materials which could be
helpful to you and check out their Web sites.
In addition, you should seek out and talk to other businesses in
Maine that have a diverse workforce to get information about
what to expect, what was difficult, what worked well, problems
encountered, etc. Often supporting entities, such as Working
Together and the Diversity Hiring Coalition will list business partners
that you can contact. Many companies are more than willing
to share strategies that have helped them to successfully
implement a diversity program. Find out which local companies
have been recognized for their success and then find out what
works for them.
DO AN INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
Once your company is committed to diversifying its workforce,
you may begin laying the groundwork for a diversified workforce.
The first thing you need to do is figure out what your starting
point is: where is your company culturally? Resistant to change
and new ideas? Stagnant? Ready to change? Open to new ideas?
Be mindful of attitudinal barriers in your organization that can
impair your best efforts. Statistically, discomfort around people
with disabilities is still prevalent:
• 15 percent of non-disabled people report discomfort at the
prospect of working for, or nearby, a person with a disability,
according to a Gallup and Robinson Survey
• 22 percent of employers report co-worker stereotypes and attitudes
a major barrier to employment/advancement of people with
disabilities, according to a survey of SHRM members
• 40 percent of disabled workers report encountering on-the-job
discrimination, according to a Harris Poll
Since there may be attitudes that could undermine your
efforts to create a diverse workforce, you need to try and
determine what existing barriers are prevalent at your company
by completing an internal assessment. There are several
ways to do an internal assessment.
If your company has more than 10 employees the best way to
do an assessment is through an anonymous survey. A few sample
questions might be: Have you ever worked with someone
who has a disability? Have you ever worked with someone of a
different ethnicity? Was it a positive experience? If not, how
would you rate your ability to work with a person who has a disability
or is otherwise different from yourself? Because this is the
start of your company-wide initiative to diversify your workforce,
it’s important your survey is a good one. If you don’t feel capable
of creating a survey yourself, you should find an outside consultant
who can help you.
If your company is small and a survey format won’t work, meet
with people individually and gather as much information as you
can. Be sure not to put your employees on the spot or make them
feel defensive. One way to do this is to ask very open ended questions
and wait a few seconds when an employee has finished
speaking–often if you allow a moment of quiet before moving
onto your next question, you’ll find your employee has more to
say. Again, if you’re uncomfortable with this process, hire an outside
consultant to do the interviewing for you.
Once you have the results of your assessment, take the time to
study them and get a good handle on what the culture of your
company is like and how open to diversity and change your
employees are. Taking the results and putting together a concise
memo is a good way to synthesize the information into a userfriendly
format that will help you as you move forward. In synthesizing
the information, you want to look for trends, strengths and
weaknesses so that your diversity training can be tailored specifically
to your company.
DIVERSITY AWARENESS TRAINING
The topics of your training will be dictated by what you find in
your internal assessment. As a general matter, you should hire
an outside person to do your training. Typically employees take
trainings conducted by external consultants more seriously than
those conducted by internal managers. Since part of your message
is that you take the commitment to diversity very seriously,
bringing in an outside trainer/consultant will help convey how
important this topic is. The trainings should consist of two parts,
one for managers and one for employees (unless your company
is very small and then only one session is necessary). As part of
your training you might also consider either hiring a person with
a disability to come in and talk to your employees.
You may be tempted to skip the training, begin hiring and
assume things will work out. This is a big mistake, which will
most likely result in your diversity initiative failing. People who
have not worked in diverse environments do not necessarily have
the tools to be welcoming and accepting of people with disabilities,
even if they have good intentions. Training will give people
those tools and will help them feel comfortable. Furthermore, the
training will send a strong message about how seriously your
company takes the diversity initiative.
Another thing you can do in conjunction with training is provide
your employees with written materials. A wealth of great
informational resources already exists online. Provide your
employees with links to some of the best sites that you can find.
If you have one, your corporate Intranet is an effective place to
keep pertinent information for your employees.
CHANGE YOUR RECRUITING PRACTICES
Once you’ve done your training and feel that your workplace
culture is receptive to diversity, its time to begin your diversity
initiative. Since you’ve already researched the resources available
to help you, you should go back to those resources and
get information about providers that can help you.
Additionally, you should make any necessary changes to your
recruiting policies to ensure you are reaching a diverse pool of
applicants. One of the key components to recruiting people
with disabilities is ensuring your public image is disability
friendly. This is true even for small businesses.
People with disabilities are spread throughout virtually every
level of society – every age group, every cultural institution,
every ethnic/racial group, and every social/economic class.
Carefully consider how people with disabilities are portrayed in
your advertising, merchandising, and recruiting material. If
you are able to portray yourself as a company that values the
contribution of people with disabilities, and diversity more
generally, it is likely that job seekers from a diverse background
will gravitate to you.
BEGIN HIRING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE: TIPS FOR INTERVIEWING AND HIRING
Hiring the right person for the right job starts with conducting
an effective job interview. As in any interview, you are
interviewing a person with skills and abilities to determine if
that individual is the best fit for your job opening. The following
are tips for preparing for and conducting an interview.
• Your company's application and interviewing procedures
should comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The ADA prohibits disability-related questions or medical
exams before a real job offer is made.
• Make sure your company's employment offices and your
interviewing location(s) are accessible to applicants with
mobility, visual, hearing or cognitive disabilities.
• Be willing to make appropriate and reasonable accommodations
to enable a job applicant with a disability to present him
or herself in the best possible light. For example, if a person
who is blind states he or she will need help filling out forms,
provide the assistance; provide an interpreter for an applicant
who is deaf, if he or she requests one.
• Do not let a rehabilitation counselor, social worker or other
third party take an active part in or sit in on an interview unless
the applicant requests it.
• Make sure that all questions asked during the interview are
job-related. Speak to the essential job functions regarding the
position for which the applicant is applying, as well as why, how,
where, when and by whom each task or operation is performed.
Do not ask whether or not the individual needs an accommodation
to perform these functions, because such information is
likely to reveal whether or not the individual has a disability.
• Relax and make the applicant feel relaxed. Don't be afraid of
making mistakes. At the same time, remember that candidates
(particularly those applying for professional positions) are
expected to assume an equal share of the responsibility for
making your interaction with them successful.
• Concentrate on the applicant's technical and professional
knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences and interests, not on
the disability. Remember, you cannot interview a disability,
hire a disability or supervise a disability. You can interview a
person, hire a person, and supervise a person.
ENSURE YOU HAVE A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT
Perhaps the most significant element in insuring a welcoming
environment is to make sure your new employee doesn’t
feel isolated or left out. There are several ways you can help
insure a new employee feels connected and integrated into
your workforce. Create a mentor or “buddy” system. Assigning
new employees to employees that have been at your company
for some time and “know the ropes” is a way of helping the
new employee form relationships and feel connected. It also
gives the new employee a “go to” colleague for questions and
concerns they might not feel comfortable asking a manager. In
the case of a new employee who happens to have a disability,
you want to make sure the mentor is someone comfortable
with working with a person with disabilities.
Another way to ensure you have a welcoming environment
is simply to ask the new employee whether there is anything
in particular that can be done to make them feel more welcome
or assist them in any way. Most employees will say no,
but the very gesture of asking is welcoming in and of itself.
CREATE ON GOING ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES TO ENSURE SUCCESS
To ensure sustained success, you must be willing to stay flexible
and keep revisiting your strategies for recruitment and
retention. There are numerous ways you can do this, but the
most important is soliciting feedback from your employees
about what is, and what is not, working. Towards that end, you
should conduct exit interviews with all departing employees.
Also, talk to managers on a regular basis to see how their
employees are faring. Concerning employees with disabilities,
you (or the manager) should be in regular communication
with their support person. Communication between management
and employees is crucial to the success of business and
as long as you keep your communication lines open, stay flexible
and adaptable, you’ll maintain a successful diversity initiative
and be a successful employer.
CONCLUSION
Diversifying your workforce is essential in order to face the
pending workforce shortage Maine (and the nation) is facing.
Employing people with disabilities is a great way to
diversify your workforce–and in the case of hiring returning
veterans with disabilities–helping those who have served.
Employing people with disabilities will enhance your consumer
goodwill and at the same time help you deflect
employee shortages. And, most importantly, a diverse
workforce means more creativity, better problem solving
and innovative ideas for your company.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Merritt T. Carey, Esq. founded GraffamSolutions in 2003 as
an employment law consulting business. Through her work,
she developed a passion for helping clients develop socially
responsible workplace policies such as diversity initiatives,
environmental workshops for employees, flex-time
policies, wellness programs and fair wage initiatives.
Expanding on this work, GraffamSolutions began helping
clients promote their socially responsible and sustainable
initiatives internally and externally.
Larry Glantz is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Muskie
School of Public Service, located at the University of
Southern Maine in Portland. In his 22 years there he has
directed, or otherwise engaged, in a wide variety of applied
research projects focused on developing employment outcomes
for youth and adults with disabilities. He is a member
of Maine’s Commission on Disability and Employment;
a standing committee of the Maine Jobs Council.
LOCAL RESOURECS
Working Together
www.ExpandingMainesWorkforce.com
E-mail:
Merritt@ExpandingMainesWorkforce.com
207-828-4882
The CHOICES CEO Project
University of Southern Maine
Muskie School of Public Service
PO Box 9300
Portland, ME 04104-9300
http://choicesceo.org
E-mail: lpohl@usm.maine.edu
Voice: 207-228-8031
Toll-Free Voice:
(800) 800-4876, ask for Leslie Pohl
TTY: 207-780-5646
Toll-free TTY: (866) 783-6461
Maine Diversity Hiring Coalition
http://diversityhiringcoalition.org/maine.asp
Maine Business for Social
Responsibility
http://www.mebsr.org/
HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTANTS
CEI Staffing Services
www.ceimaine.org/content/section/10/109/
Telephone: 207-882-7552
Toll Free Phone: 1-877-340-2649
FAX: 207-882-7308
36 Water Street, PO Box 268,
Wiscasset, ME 04578
Merritt Carey, Esq.
GraffamSolutions
www.graffamsolutions.com
E-mail: Merritt@graffamsolutions.com
207-828-4882
PUBLICATIONS
Working with People With Disabilities
by Richard Pimentel
www.diversityshop.com/store/working.html
Succeeding Together: People With
Disabilities in the Workplace
http://www.csun.edu/~sp20558/dis/em.html
Employer Resource Kit
www.abletrust.org/resources/resource-kit.pdf
VIDEO
The Ten Commandments of
Communicating with People
With Disabilities
www.diversityshop.com/store/10comvid.html
Hire Disability Solutions
www.hireds.com
Earnworks
www.earnworks.com