Being challenged doesn’t mean a person won’t be productive in the workplace. The condition is not limited to any particular one either. It can be from a mild case to something more severe. For this, it is not out of place to find challenged people in the workplaces. For instance, if one out of every Australian is physically challenged, it should just be normal that every organization will have a challenged person around.
It should be mentioned that there are many disabled out there that are professionals in their field and doing very well like other able people. The list goes on about many popular figures in the society who have one disability or another but went on do very well. The Virgin Group, Braun Corporation, and Hawking (a notable scientist) are quite a few of the many people who made success in life even with disabilities. Many hold managerial positions and others are top-ranked professionals in their own fields. In contrast to what is commonly believed, people who are physically challenged have higher education including vocational and professional training.
The benefits of employing a challenged person in your organization are valuable and will be to a good advantage of the company. There are reasons why challenged people are the best employees to work with and here are a few:
They Stay Longer In Jobs
Studies carried out in Australia and other parts of the world found that employing people who are challenged is more beneficial to an organization. This is because they have increased tenure at workplaces. They are more loyal and committed employees that will stay much longer in jobs than other employees. It is also observed that once employed on the job, they perform quite as well as others.
According to a study by the Chicago Lighthouse on retention rate, the result was more positive for people with disability than other employees. The organization, Illinois Tollway Customer Care Center was the study ground. It employs the visually impaired, the blind, the disabled and people without disabilities including veterans. The report showed that vision challenged, veterans and other disabilities had a job retention rate of 1.7 years compared to the 0.9 years for abled persons or non-veterans.
They Often Have Fewer Days Off
Low absenteeism is also connected with many challenged employees which is a good one for employers. In a research, it showed challenged persons besides having good productivity have much fewer scheduled absences than other employees who are without a disability. They are not prone to have much sick leave like others in employment.
They Have Less Work-Related Accidents
Several studies showed that employees who are physically challenged are not likely to be involved in injuries. Fewer injuries at the workplace are good to enhance cost-effectiveness in the business. In a recent study from DuPont Company, it showed that employees who are challenged had much better safety records at the workplace than workers who are without disabilities. Employees who are challenged are seen to be more alive to safety issues during managerial, labor and other service areas.
Increases Diversity
An all-inclusive workplace allows for diversity. It opens up a company to many opportunities. Employers will be able to get additional ideas to grow the company. This is what employees with disabilities bring along with them to the workplace because they are trained differently on how things are done in some areas. This will be beneficial to the company if harnessed. This is where the organization gains from to be more profitable in the long run. By diversity, it could mean the different and unique ways people approach their tasks in the workplace. A company never loses with diversity but rather gain from it.
People with disabilities come into the workplace with a range of variety and great potentials. They have equally great skills and are not limited by their challenges in the workplace when the enabling environment is in place. Employ challenged persons will increase the talents of the organization.
Challenged Employees Boost Staff Morale
Having a team of employees with diverse talents helps an organization achieve better results. There is so much to learn from a physically challenged employee. They bring in various approaches to solve a problem, helps a team connect better in an organization and boost the morale in the workplace. Employers are able to learn new ways of dealing with issues and also learn how the challenged get around many job operations to appreciate them more. Enabling diversity in your workforce by employing individuals with disabilities helps to increase creativity in the organization.
Helps Customer Retention By Creating A Strong Connection
Businesses are about profit and this comes not without sales. Many customers for a company is synonymous with much profit. Retaining and connecting with your customers’ help your business. Workers that have disabilities are known to have a good human relationship with customers and can understand clients who are physically challenged better. You’ll get to understand the needs of the challenged and expand your services or products to meet the needs.
The business and life journey of Ralph Braun is a great case study on how a need was met and expanded to become a multi-million dollar business.
This is surely an edge against the competitors. When a workforce reflects all categories of individuals, the company tends to attract more customers to stand better on the other end of the competition.
As people with disabilities strive towards independence through gainful employment, employers have nothing to lose by hiring people with disabilities. They are the best employees a company will want to have on their payroll.
Challenged people can beat or compete favorably with others in the workplace if provided the right environment. As highlighted, they are oftentimes proven to be the best employees in the workplace as they add more to the company. It goes to show that never should anyone be judged based on his disability at the workplace but rather adjusting to make the workplace a ground that accommodates both the challenged and people without disabilities will be profitable.