Since 1985, the Jobs West Employment Program has successfully placed hundreds of job seekers in gainful and productive employment opportunities with local businesses. As champions of inclusive hiring, we couldn’t be more proud of this contributing workforce.
The reality is, however, there are still those businesses that may not feel comfortable offering jobs to people with a developmental disability. Some business owners mistakenly think that hiring employees with a disability carries risk. A little research would say otherwise. Organizations that hire neurodiverse staff actually make more money and have better morale among their workforce.
Statistics show people with developmental disabilities take fewer days off, they really like to work, are highly motivated, and tend to stay on the job longer than typical employees. From an internal company perspective, it’s been shown that firms who hire with diversity see lower staff turnover and a general increase in innovative thinking when solving problems, all of which can help a business be more productive and competitive.
Corporations try to infuse their culture with a sense of inclusivity. Hiring a neurodiverse staff helps promote this feeling. Staff and customers alike enjoy working with people with developmental disabilities, so it’s actually good for brand reputation and staff retention.
Still, one of the greatest benefits of hiring adults with developmental disabilities is that it sends a very strong and positive message that they are not invisible, in fact, they are quite valuable.
The research associated with this topic can be found here: https://askjan.org/topics/costs.cfm and https://hbr.org/2017/05/neurodiversity-as-a-competitive-advantage
