Why employ disabled people?
Only 48% of disabled people are in employment compared to 78% of non-disabled people (note 1).
Many companies have found that by employing persons with disabilities they are better able to understand and serve their customers with disabilities (note 2)
Employees with disabilities relate better to customers with disabilities. In the United States, this represents $1 trillion in annual aggregate consumer spending, in the UK £80 billion a year (note 3).
87 percent of consumers prefer to patronise companies that hire people with disabilities (note 4)
Research in Spain has found that most of the companies that have hired a disabled employee affirm that they would do so again, as they regard it as a highly positive experience. 77.8% of these employers indicating that their performance is better (note 5).
In Australia 86 % of employees with disabilities had an above average attendance rate (note 6).
Empirical evidence shows that persons with disabilities have high performance ratings and retention rates, as well as better attendance records than their colleagues without disabilities (note 7).
Studies have shown that there are other benefits to employers of persons with disabilities, such as improved workforce morale and increased customer goodwill (note 8).
Improving the employment rate of persons with disabilities would boost the UK economy by £13 billion (note 9).
By employing workers with disabilities, the hardware chain B&Q finds that it has gained a number of benefits, including increased overall employee satisfaction and better retention and productivity rates (note 10).
Companies report that employees with disabilities have better retention rates, reducing the high cost of staff turnover (note 11).
Most disabled people will not require adjustments to enable them to do the job. The average cost of a reasonable adjustment to any business is £75, and most reasonable adjustments are free (note 12).
92% of consumers felt more favourable towards companies that hire individuals with disabilities (note 13).
Notes
1.Office for Disability Issues, Disability facts and figures: An overview of Official UK disability statistics from the Office for Disability Issues, 2010.
2.United Nations, Employment of persons with disabilities: Fact sheet 1, 2010
3.Wall Street Journal, The Next Great Hiring Frontier, 2005
4.Center for Social Development and Education, University of Massachusetts, 2006.
5.European Working Conditions Observatory, Study on employers’ perspective regarding the employment of disabled people, 2008.
6.Hall, H. (2002) cited by EEO Trust, Employing Disabled People, 2005.
7.United Nations, Decent work for persons with disabilities, 2007
8.United Nations, Decent work for persons with disabilities, 2007
9.The Social Market Foundation, Disability, Skills and Work: Raising our Ambitions, 2007
10.United Nations, Employment of persons with disabilities: Fact sheet 1, 2010
11.Unger, D. 2002. Employer's attitude toward persons with disabilities in the Workforce: myths or realities, Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 2002
12.Disability Rights Commission, Top Tips for small employers: A guide to employing disabled people, 2004
13.Center for Social Development and Education, University of Massachusetts, 2006