Businessman and philanthropist Stephen Odzer discusses the unique benefits of hiring people with disabilities.
Less than 20 years ago, qualified job applicants with disabilities were regularly screened out of traditional hiring practices. Thankfully, the passing of the ADA Amendments Act in 2009, guaranteed superior accommodation for many Americans with disabilities. Even more, superior technology, recruiting processes, and access to new training techniques mean that today, businesses can successfully hire disabled employees who may need certain support systems. Businessman and philanthropist Stephen Odzer recently discussed the unique benefits businesses enjoy when hiring people with disabilities.
“For countless years, disabled potential employees were simply skipped over in the hiring process,” Stephen Odzer said. “Not only was that unfair to the people seeking employment, businesses were missing out on valuable assets too.”
Stephen Odzer explained numerous studies have shown that businesses enjoy numerous benefits when choosing to hire qualified applicants with disabilities. Stephen Odzer stated that one obvious benefit is a larger hiring pool. Applicants who were more than qualified but immediately discarded in the past, are now not being cut out immediately. This means employers actually have a chance to review their applications, achievements, and skill sets.
Stephen Odzer added that workplace diversity is essential, and disabled employees add to this diversity. Employing people from various cultures and walks of life can provide more insight into what customers want and create more room for varying ideas. Many times, people of different backgrounds and different abilities have different ways of thinking. One person may not see a solution to a problem, but somebody else of a different background may use their varying life experience to solve the problem. Stephen Odzer explained that a person with a disability may have different outlooks and ideas than those who haven’t dealt with such challenges.
Businessmen like Stephen Odzer explain that employees with disabilities can positively impact the other employees in the workplace. Studies have shown that businesses with employees with disabilities see a positive impact on the retention of current employees. They also see an increased work ethic among those working for the company. Staff morale as a whole is shown to be higher with a more diverse workplace, especially those including disabled employees.
“Recorded studies from 1998 through 2020, have shown that numerous positive business opportunities are shown with the hiring of qualified applicants with disabilities,” Stephen Odzer said. “Employees are more dedicated and show higher morale. Higher morale results in higher productivity, and higher productivity results in higher profits.”
Stephen Odzer suggested that hiring qualified employees with disabilities isn’t just beneficial to the employee; it’s beneficial to the company as a whole.
