Talent Management - September 2008 - (Page 20)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & beneﬁts performance management learning & development succession planning for people with a hearing impairment, many employers expect the cost associated with hiring those with disabilities to be prohibitive. This is not true. The cost for most accommodations is less than $500 — according the ﬁgures from the U.S. Job Accommodation Network — which is paid back time and again in the retention cost savings. These reasons stand alone, but they also combine to help companies get ahead of the competition in terms of cost, sales and being an employer of choice. Those who adapt later will face higher absolute costs and get behind in building their employer brand. While conducting mock interviews to help prepare candidates with disabilities for real interviews, I met Matt*. He lives outside of Chicago and has had a severe hearing hiring those with disabilities can lower turnover and absenteeism, and increase productivity, and the insurance cost is the same when compared with employees without disabilities. • “We will have to lower performance expectations.” Performance expectations need not be changed an inch. Ask people with disabilities, and most would not expect or accept it any other way. • “HR can’t change the biases of people on the line.” In fact, HR practitioners often are the obstacle. Too often, HR uses the lack of awareness and comfort of others in the organization to disguise their own fears and biases from a hiring perspective. No Time Like the Present Nobody and no organization are perfect; most simply need to start somewhere and start now. Here are the ﬁrst three steps to take: 1. Create a strategy. Assess the current state (bias in the organization, taking inventory of facilities and resources for those with disabilities) and declare the desired future state (becoming an employer of choice for those with disabilities, having a bank of sources for ﬁnding candidates). Create a plan to carry you into the future, and build the business case, including the WIIFMs (“what’s in it for me?”). People with varying types of disabilities increasingly want to earn an income and contribute to society. impairment since birth. Matt was looking for work as an IT specialist, and he had the ideal resume, skills and background for the job. He submitted more than 120 resumes and got 40 call backs. He required assisted technology for phone interviews. After 40 phone interviews, he got one in-person interview and was offered the job. The Problem: Clogged Minds There likely was more than one obstacle for getting those other 39 companies to meet with Matt. But in most cases, at least one of the reasons — rampant myths that will take years to dispel — is on the following list. • “We don’t have charitable initiatives.” People with disabilities are hired with the same wage and performance expectations as anyone in a similar job. It is not seen as charity, but smart business. • “We don’t have the right kind of jobs.” Many employers think there is a certain type of job a person with a disability can handle. People with disabilities, like anyone else, can’t be lumped together. In most cases, those with disabilities can do the same jobs as everyone else can. Sometimes they need assistance; many times they don’t. Mostly, they need employers and colleagues with open minds. • “We don’t hire blue-collar workers.” Working people with disabilities with whom we most often interact are in blue-collar jobs, and this has narrowed our view of the jobs they can do. Some people with disabilities have accounting and medical degrees, and in many cases, professionals who develop disabilities have the hardest time dealing with it because of these preconceived notions. • “The costs are too high.” Employers are concerned about high absenteeism and costly insurance, but *Name changed to protect identity. September 2008 2. Assess and address bias in HR. This is part of the current state assessment, but is worth calling out because it is so often overlooked. Look at how you treat existing return-to-work scenarios. The level of openness and accommodation to this process will reveal how ready you are to bring outsiders with disabilities into the workforce. Take an HR survey on the topic or have discussions and address issues with training and tools. 3. Get active. Start evolving the organization from the current state to the desired state. Connect to the New Freedom Initiative and AbilityOne as they support employers looking to hire more people with disabilities. Investigate nonproﬁt organizations that help build candidate source pools. Raise awareness through education programs on etiquette and accommodations for working with people with disabilities. Invite people with disabilities to give speeches. Become a sponsor of disability events in your community and encourage employees to volunteer for them. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was deﬁned around an independent woman in the workplace. Eventually, independent women — and now people with disabilities — took on roles in the back- and foreground of TV. Their gender or disability doesn’t deﬁne their character. And it doesn’t deﬁne them as employees. One day we will look back and wonder: “What was the problem?” Scott Hoesman is a consultant with Capital H Group. He can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. 20 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - September 2008

Talent Management - September 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance: Stop Wasting Money on Training Leading Edge: No Whining, No Excuses Learning Connections: Do You Get It? The Untapped Resource Reinventing HR Doing Compensation Right: The Winning Spread Managing Performance in the Knowledge and Innovation Worker Age Stop-The-Clock Time Management Preparing for the Future in the Public Sector SAS: Connecting People, Process and Products Talent Transformation at Textron The Price of Finding the Right Gen Y Candidate Advertiser's Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Do What You Love, Love What You Do

Talent Management - September 2008

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