The benefits of employing a disabled person are vast. The action can be one of the most rewarding and valuable decisions you can make as a business and as an employer.

Many people and companies wrongfully overlook and exclude disabled people when it comes to their recruitment processes. By doing so, these people are missing out not only on skilled, valuable members of staff who deserve a fair chance, but they are also damaging their own business and missing out on some pretty big benefits. 

If you are an employer and you are considering employing more disabled people, this page is here to tell you how and why to do it. We believe disabled people deserve the same treatment in the workforce as non-disabled workers. And, we want to show you how much positive benefit awaits you in becoming an equal employer. 

Equality makes everyone happier, healthier, more efficient, and more profitable.

Here are more in-depth explanations of the exact rewards and benefits of employing a disabled person. We hope they are able to convince you to give disabled workers equal consideration going forward.

Benefits of Employing a Disabled Person 1: Find Overlooked but Valuable Workers 

There are 8.4 million disabled people of working age in the U.K.. Yet only 4.4 million of those people are in employment. With only half of disabled adults in work, you can guarantee that the U.K. workforce is missing out on a lot of skilled, knowledgable and valuable disabled workers. Increasing accessibility in recruitment can allow these previously unemployed disabled people to start work and bring all of their skills to the table. 

The U.K. Disability Survey Research Report showed that accessibility and equality in the workplace are still big issues within the disabled community. Over half of the disabled people who are reported unemployed stated they would like help entering the workforce and help to stay in it too. The study demonstrated that many disabled people in the U.K. still feel undersupported, undervalued, underhired, underpromoted, and unseen. 

It isn’t the case that disabled people don’t want to work or don’t have the skills or qualifications to work. It is the case that they aren’t being appropriately supported or included. 

You can change that and find some fantastic workers by making accessibility and inclusion priorities in your recruitment and workplace protocols. Then, you can post your brand new and inclusive jobs right here on our disability-friendly job board at Careers with Disabilities. 

Benefit 2: Increase Accessibility and Increase Customer Reach

When your company and its products or services are accessible, you are able to appeal to a much larger and much more diverse audience and customer base. One of the best ways to understand accessibility and becoming accessible is to work hand-in-hand with disabled people. This is another one of the amazing benefits of hiring a disabled person in your company.

According to recent statistics, 75% of disabled people and their families have turned away from a U.K. business due to a lack of accessibility. Also according to recent statistics, the estimated spending power of the disabled community in the U.K. is a whopping £274 billion. (Yes, billion).

Being an inaccessible employer means you are missing a huge revenue opportunity. You are shrinking your potential for profit and missing out on a very profitable market. By employing disabled people and appropriately understanding, listening to, and supporting them, you will be able to take these new insights and turn them back into profit. The disabled people you employ can also help to provide a more accessible service themselves, with many having specific desirable skills such as British Sign Language. 

Not only are you making an increased profit but you are becoming part of the change that will allow disabled people to have better customer service experiences too. This is important in itself for equality and basic humanity. 

Benefit 3: Improve Your Company Image

Being an equal employer makes you look good. And it makes people want to engage with you and your services.

A survey from the National Business and Disability Council in 2017 found that 66% of customers want to purchase goods and services from a business that features disabled people in their advertising campaigns. 78% want to purchase goods and services from businesses that provide easy access for disabled people at their physical locations. 

People want equality and they want inclusion. Being able to demonstrate these values is another excellent example of the benefits of hiring a disabled person. 

When you become a certified Disability Confident employer, you not only attract the right candidates for your jobs and postings, but you also attract the right clients and customers. And more of them too! Even just beginning to become Disability Confident and advertising that you are on a journey of becoming more accessible and inclusive will help your company’s image tenfold. 

It’s 2022, get with the times. 

Benefit 4: Reduce Your Costs Longterm

Not everyone who is disabled was born disabled. It is estimated that fewer than 20% of registered disabled people in the U.K. are born with their disability and the rest acquire their disability during their adult life. This means that more than 80% of people become disabled when they are working. 

If you are an employer or company with an inaccessible, unequal and non-disability-friendly ethos, chances are you will lose any employee you have that becomes disabled during their time working. And this can accrue some huge costs. In fact, it is estimated that it costs around £30,000 to replace just one employee. If you lose multiple employees due to the fact they are no longer supported at work once they become disabled, you can rack up some big bills. If you have to medically retire an employee, this can cost a lot more. 

Multiple studies have shown that disabled workers are more punctual, reliable and loyal than non-disabled employees. Having disabled employees can allow companies to have higher levels of productivity and efficacy. This, in turn, increases profit margins.

In addition to all of this, simply by having greater flexibility, levels of accommodation and accessibility, you significantly reduce the likelihood of having to replace experienced employees. Even those who don’t become disabled during their time working with you but might otherwise have left for somewhere more accommodating, so avoiding all the costs that entail once again.

It is a common misconception that hiring disabled people is more expensive. In fact, due to the needs of the disabled community, there are a wealth of different schemes and funding available to employers who are looking to employ a disabled person.

Benefit 5: Improve Staff Well-being and Satisfaction Levels

Finally, it has been found that having disabled members of staff improves your workplace’s culture, morale and overall staff retention rate. This is because all employees recognise that as an employer you are accommodating and understanding of everyone, making each employee feel more valued and in less of a hurry to leave for anywhere else. 

Seeing inclusivity makes everyone feel secure in their workplace and this is a great thing. 

Being an inclusive, accessible, accommodating employer has so much to offer lots of people in each stage of recruitment and working. The benefits of employing a disabled person can have an even bigger impact than you might imagine. Why wouldn’t you want to get involved?

If this page has opened your eyes to just some of the wonderful reasons to diversify your staff and include people with disabilities in your company, then have a look at our services for more details on how to become an inclusive, Disability Confident employer.

Then, you are free to start posting jobs on our inclusive job board and reap all the benefits of a diverse pool of candidates. The benefits of employing a disabled person will be apparent in no time and you will never want to go back to being inaccessible ever again!

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