Successfully Employing People with Disabilities Doesn’t Happen by Accident

Companies can make subtle but critical tweaks to hire and retain people with disabilities.

Illustration by Stela Stamenkova-Din

Fifteen percent of the global workforce, or 1.3 billion people, have some type of disability​. The unemployment and underemployment rates of people with disabilities are more than double those of people without. How can companies tap into this untapped talent pool?

Below are recommendations to incorporate within your own hiring process. Note that this is a starting point and not a comprehensive list.

Step 1: Research

Applicants often research companies as the first step in their job search. It’s how people figure out what the company is about and if they want to work there. Ask yourself how easy it would be for an applicant who is blind or deaf or uses a keyboard instead of a mouse to consume the information they need from your company’s site to decide if they want to apply.

What can you do?

• Make sure your career site and company site are accessible. If you don’t have an internal accessibility team to test, there are great third-party vendors who can audit and provide feedback.
• Is the job description inclusive? Some words can exclude individuals with disabilities (e.g., see or hear). Choose words that convey actual job requirements without limiting the physical demands to certain abilities. For example, “ability to learn technical material” rather than “the ability to read technical manuals”.

Step 2: Application

The platform and application process can be a barrier to online job applications. Examples include using a platform that is not accessible for those that rely on keyboard-only navigation, pages timing out or not being saved easily when applicants are completing them, and non-captioned videos that provide important information.

What can you do?

• Test to ensure the submission process is accessible from start to end. This applies to any tests or evaluations used as part of the application process.
• Verify that your process is straightforward and easy for applicants who use assistive technology such as a screen reader or keyboard-only navigation.
• Provide contact information for applicants who might need assistance with their application.
• Test that your tracking system is not biased against people who might need more time or are color blind.
• If you are using AI-based software, make sure the rules do not introduce bias against people with disabilities. For example, automatically discarding resumes that have a gap in employment, could impact applicants with disabilities who may have needed to take time off.

Step 3: Interviews

Job interviews can be stressful for both the employer and candidate. Some employers may find themselves nervous or uncomfortable interviewing candidates with disabilities. It’s important your company has processes in place that ensure equal opportunity for all candidates so everyone is held to the same standards.

Tell applicants what the hiring process involves (e.g., an interview, timed written test, or job demonstration), and ask applicants if they need a reasonable accommodation.

It’s the applicant’s decision to disclose their disability or not. Seventy percent of disabilities are invisible and some applicants prefer not to disclose. Regardless, it’s good practice to ask if accommodations are required.

If an applicant requests a reasonable accommodation, here is what you can do:

• Ask what type of accommodation they require. Never assume. People have different preferences, and they know best what they need. Do they need captions or interpreters and if the interview is in-person, is the space wheelchair accessible?
• Recognize and be prepared for job applicants who may require more time between and during interviews.
• A manager’s comfort with disability can shape the experience of the job candidate during the interview process. Providing some basic training about disability etiquette, the impact of assumptions about what a person with a disability can and can’t do, and company policies that might help a new employee with a disability feel welcome in their new role can be helpful.
• Consider using chat sessions as an accommodation on a case-by-case basis given the nature of the person’s needs. This provides an interactive platform for someone who may prefer written versus verbal communication. Make sure the chat platform and its features are accessible to users with assistive technology.

Step 4: Job Offer

As my colleague Sheri Byrne Haber would say, “The offer stage seems to feel like death by 1000 PDF files sometimes”.

If an employer offers paper or PDF forms that are not accessible or cannot be completed online, applicants with dexterity or vision impairments may have to depend on someone else to fill out the application for them. This can cause dependency and conflict with confidentiality.

So what can you do?

• Offer job applications in other mediums such as Braille, large print or audio.
• Have someone from the HR team read the application questions to persons with vision impairments.
• Allow applicants with dexterity or vision disabilities to scan the forms on their computers, complete them using their preferred tools, and email them to HR.
• If third-party vendors are doing background checks, their processes must also be accessible.
• Benefits, 401K plan enrollment, health insurance, I-9 all must be accessible.

Step 5: Onboarding

Good onboarding smoothly integrates new employees into their positions and company culture. If you already have an onboarding process, does it consider reasonable accommodation issues for new employees who may have a disability? It should.

What can you do?

• Educating and training those involved in onboarding such as HR, hiring managers, IT, facilities, and security departments is key.
• Educate new hires and employees about the company’s reasonable accommodations policies and process.
• The person communicating the job offer should be prepared to describe to the new employee the office location and the type of equipment that will be provided (e.g., parking, type of computer, how to access the facilities, workstation environment, etc.). This will allow new employees to understand if they need to request reasonable accommodation.

What accommodations may be imperative for effectively onboarding employees with disabilities?

• Access to company site and online forms.
• Print material in an accessible and alternative format as needed (large print, Braille, text file, etc.).
• For in-person roles, accessible parking and facility access (keyless entry, security issues, restrooms, break rooms, exercise rooms, etc.), service animals, workspace modifications (furniture, lighting, etc.).
• Computer and communication technology access (alternative input devices, screen reading software, screen magnification, etc.).
• Services or work-related assistance (sign language interpreters, readers, note takers, etc.).
• Emergency evacuation and shelter-in-place plan needs.

Not all of these accommodations need to be in place for the first day of work. An awareness of the potential need and a willingness to implement accommodations as part of your company culture will help any employer successfully onboard new employees.

Bonus Step: Retention

The work doesn’t end after onboarding is completed. More than 66% of workers with disabilities have experienced negative bias that may have them consider leaving a company. (Source: The Center for Talent Innovation, 2017 study.)

There are things you can do to reduce disability bias in an organization and keep your employees:

• Ensure that information about people with disabilities is included in bias training.
• Review corporate language that might exclude people with disabilities.
• Check that everything the organization buys, uses and builds is accessible.
• Adopt language in company policies and communications that encourages self-identification.
• Establish disability-focused employee resource groups rather than groups only for people with disabilities. The former, broader group would include any interested employees such as those whose children or siblings with disabilities. This encourages people who have invisible disabilities to attend because they won’t feel they are disclosing their disability.
• Ask employees with disabilities to alert you to potential biases at all stages of the employment cycle.
• Ensure all employees can participate in company events, and include pictures of employees with disabilities on your website.

Successfully employing and retaining people with disabilities doesn’t have to be time-consuming or a complete redo of a company’s onboarding process. Small changes can have a big impact on helping you access a diverse and untapped talent pool.

Sheri Byrne Haber wrote an expanded series on this topic if you want to learn more.