Employing Disabled People – The Business Case

Managers who are positive about employing disabled people look at the capabilities and potential of every individual, regardless of whether they are disabled or have a long-term health condition. Their aim is to employ the best person for the job. If the best person for the job happens to be disabled, there should be no barriers to finding them – indeed, if they are the best person for the job it is in the employer’s interest to find them!

If you look beyond someone's disability or health condition and seize the potential of everyone who wants to work for you, your business could benefit by:

- tapping into a wider range of applicants for job vacancies (research has found that disabled employees are just as productive as their non-disabled colleagues, and have less time off sick, fewer accidents and stay in their jobs longer)

- finding workers who can fill skills gaps in tight labour markets where there aren't enough 'obvious' candidates

- gaining a competitive advantage by having a diverse workforce which can attract a diverse range of customers (there are over ten million disabled people in the UK with spending potential in excess of £50 billion)

- saving money and keeping valuable experience by retaining employees who become disabled whilst working for your business (the Post Office estimates that medically retiring an employee can cost up to £80,000)

- using the experiences of disabled people to understand how your customers think and what drives their spending habits (see our article on the Benefits of Looking After Disabled Customers)

- improving staff morale and loyalty to a business considered inclusive and representative.

- increasing your retention of staff (Poundland, for example, found that the turnover of disabled candidates recruited is 4%, compared to 48% of non-disabled recruits.)

- complying with existing and emerging legislation and avoiding unnecessary - and potentially costly - charges of discrimination (there is no upper limit on fines for discrimination on grounds of disability)

Case Study - BT

Since 2003 BT has provided sustainable opportunities for over 300 disabled people to work within BT through its award winning Able to Work outplacement scheme. Monitoring has shown that disabled candidates performed as effectively - if not better than - their non-disabled colleagues. BT also found that disabled employees remained with the company for longer (67% of disabled people recruited have over one year’s service).