Talent Knows No Limits
group of employees, including one in a wheelchair
"We can hire someone with a disability knowing that they will be able to function well in a disability-friendly environment."

Accommodations Resources

 

The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) provides individualized accommodation solutions and technical assistance.

Interactive Tool
In an effort to combat employer misconceptions, a new online tool is offering an estimate of the costs — and financial benefits — involved in hiring people with disabilities. The tool, known as “Hire Gauge,” asks for basic information including the company’s size, location and industry in order to provide an assessment of the expenses and incentives involved in selecting a job applicant with a disability.Read more

When an employee returns to work with a new disability, the About.com article How to Accommodate Disabled Employees shows you how to ease the transition.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has resource page with employers in mind. Here you will find a wealth of resources, articles and links to help you source, recruit, retain and develop people with disabilities, a pool of talent too often overlooked by employers.

Ernst & Young, one of the largest professional services firms in the world, has created a downloadable handbook for working with non-visible disabilities called Getting support, supporting others.

Don’t let your company’s Web site discourage a qualified job candidate with a disability. Review this list of Web accessibility standards from the U.S. Dept. Justice.

Start here to make your company’s Web site accessible to job seekers and others with disabilities, with guidelines and resources from the Web Accessibility Initiative.

Free Assistive Technologies is an online, single stop library of free assistive technology software applications.

DoItMyselfBlog.com has a Checklist for Planning an Accessible Event to ensure that all attendees at your meetings feel welcomed.

The National Federation of the Blind has an active job posting board and many career and employer resources.

The California Telephone Access Program (CTAP) ) for people with limitations of hearing, vision, mobility, speech, and/or interpretation of information.

The California Relay Service (CRS) offers free operator-assisted relay of live telephone conversations between hearing- or speech-disabled people and anyone else, 24x7 in English and Spanish.


Job Accommodations for Employees

Everyone uses tools. Whether job tools are universal, like the Internet, or custom, like an adjustable workstation, they make life easier and bring newfound freedom. Other customizations provide the same positive benefits as tools – such as flexible schedules with rest breaks for people who have disabilities that produce fatigue, or the creation of an audio recording of a written procedure manual for a person whose disability makes it hard to understand written instructions.     

The resources to the right can help you become educated about accommodation options and the accommodations rights provided to employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act. We also have a list of suggestions for specific accommodations.

You can watch a self-paced online training that will inform you about workplace accommodations called Diversity: Creating a Workplace that Works.

The Job Accommodation Network shows that half of all accommodations cost $50 or less. Most are under $500, and there are tax incentives available to offset those costs.

Most employers take pride in accommodating special requests from their customers to deliver a custom solution to meet their needs. Accommodating employees with a custom solution to meet their needs is no different. A simple conversation about a needed accommodation can make a world of difference when it comes to productivity and job satisfaction.

Percentage of employers who reported experiencing direct and indirect benefits as a result of having made an accommodation:

Direct Benefits

%

Company retained a valued employee

88%

Increased the employee’s productivity

72%

Eliminated costs associated with training a new employee

59%

Increased the employee’s attendance

52%

Increased diversity of the company

43%

Saved worker’s compensation or other insurance costs

39%

Company hired a qualified person with a disability

16%

Company promoted an employee

11%

 

 

Indirect Benefits

 

Improved interactions with co-workers

69%

Increased overall company morale

61%

Increased overall company productivity

57%

Improved interactions with customers

45%

Increased workplace safety

43%

Increased overall company attendance

37%

Increased profitability

33%

Increased customer base

18%