Economic Incentives for Employers on Increasing Employment Rates for People with Disabilities

Mock Qualitative Interview Questions and Answers
What are your perceptions on employers hiring people with disabilities?
Participant One: A majority of employers are skeptical about hiring people with disabilities. The type and severity of disability have a huge effect on the person been hired. While some employers are willing to give people with disabilities a chance to demonstrate their work capabilities, most feel it is burdensome and they would prefer to avoid hiring these individuals. People with physical disabilities are easily hired as compared to people to people with mental and emotional disabilities (Henry, Petkauskos, Stanislawzyk, & Vogt, 2014). At our office, we currently have two coworkers who have physical disabilities and their work performance is even better compared to that of people without any disability. Employers have this perception that people with disabilities do not have the requisite skills, will need greater supervision, and have higher absenteeism rates.
Participant Two: Most employers are concerned about the obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The prospects for providing accommodations for workers with disabilities has been a deterrent to most employers. The costs associated with offering these accommodations have been seen as prohibitive and most would prefer to not go down that route. The lack of understanding of the law is the main reason that these employers have these perceptions. There is also a lack of comfort or familiarity with disabilities. The attitudes of customers, coworkers, and managers have also been a reason for concern. employer attitudes towards people with disabilities is also a hindrance to them being offered a position at a particular organization.
What challenges and obstacles exist to hiring people with disabilities?
Participant One: The stigma that is associated with disabilities will create obstacles to employers hiring workers with disabilities. During an interview, there is always an immediate negative reaction from the hiring manager when the person has a visible disability. This results in the hiring manager focusing on what the person cannot do instead of their strengths. There is an assumption that the individual's disability will have a negative effect on co-workers and this might impact the overall work environment of the organization (Metcalfe, Drake, & Bond, 2017). With such an assumption it becomes easy for a hiring manager to overlook the candidate with disabilities for another candidate. Managers working with people with disabilities will mostly treat them as special cases and they are likely to fear to say the wrong thing to them. This would result in them giving out the wrong guidance or supervision.
Participant Two: Recruiting people with disabilities is also difficult for most organizations. There is limited information or a lack of enough information regarding potential candidates. Hiring managers find it hard to get information regarding potential workers with disabilities. Most organizations do not know where they can get candidates. There are numerous gaps that limit employers who would be willing to hire people with disabilities. For example, there are no cases published that can be used to guide employers on strategies that have worked at other organizations that have hired people with disabilities. This information would extremely helpful to small businesses that do not enough HR capacity.
What is the business case for hiring people with disabilities?
Participant One: There is an opportunity to increase the available talent within a company or business. A business has the opportunity to bring a varied workforce and this adds to the varied perspectives of the workplace, which leads to increased innovation. With a varied workforce, a business can easily be able to differentiate itself from the other businesses or companies and this can give the business a competitive advantage. Any business that is able to include and accommodate people with disabilities will strengthen its overall workforce. Considering that most employees need some sort of support in order for them to perform and accomplish their work, the company will reap numerous benefits since it has a collaborative culture. Managers can also benefit by having people with disabilities working under them. This will give the managers a vital leadership lesson that cannot be taught in any business school.
Participant Two: A company can also improve upon its public relations by hiring people with disabilities. This is due to the positive image that consumers and other businesses will have regarding the business. Inclusivity is seen as positive by many customers and prospective employees. There is also an opportunity for a company to attract vital talent when it is seen to be more inclusive. People with disabilities also represent a vital customer base and it would be beneficial for a business to win brand loyalty among this demographic. Diversification is beneficial to a business as it brings different cultures and perspectives into the workforce (Delman, Kovich, Burke, & Martone, 2017). This will assist the business to be innovative and inclusive in its culture.
What would motivate businesses to hire more people with disabilities?
Participant One: A business would get the opportunity to reduce the rate of unemployment for people with disability. There is also the chance to offer assistance to a person who has mostly been rejected by others due to their disability. This is beneficial to the business because it would be demonstrating to its customers that is cares. The social aspect of a business is the most vital one in today's business world and having employees with disabilities will portray the business in a positive aspect. The restrictions that might be facing people with disabilities are eliminated using technology. This means that a business will not incur huge costs for accommodating people with disability.
Participant Two: Government incentives that offer subsidies for business or companies that hire people with disabilities could be beneficial. This would motivate businesses into hiring more people with disabilities and it would also assist a business financially. The economic outlook is much better for a business that is able to have a diversified workforce as it can tap into this workforce to improve upon its services or products. People with disability understand each other better than a person without any disability. Therefore, they can offer suggestions that would benefit the company's products when targeting people with disabilities.
What can a business gain by hiring people with disabilities?
Participant One: For starters, a business that is able to hire people with disabilities will have on its workforce a diversified talent pool. With a diversified talent pool, a business can cater to different customer needs and develop products and services that would meet the needs of different people including those with disabilities. Attracting customers can be easy for the business as people would prefer to purchase or use its products since it is seen to be assisting people with disabilities.
Participant Two: There is satisfaction in knowing that you are assisting someone who others would not be willing to assist (Frøyland, Andreassen, & Innvær, 2018). There is also the social aspect of giving back to the community. Hiring people with disability will make the business be deemed to be assisting the community and customers are likely to also offer their support to the business. Discrimination lawsuits would never be filed against the business and this would bolster its image to the world. The costs involved for offering accommodation to people with disabilities are not as high as others might think and the business would benefit more if it has people with disabilities working for it.
References
Delman, J., Kovich, L., Burke, S., & Martone, K. (2017). The promise of demand side employer-based strategies to increase employment rates for people living with serious mental illnesses. Psychiatric rehabilitation journal, 40(2), 179.
Frøyland, K., Andreassen, T. A., & Innvær, S. (2018). Contrasting supply-side, demand-side and combined approaches to labour market integration.
Henry, A. D., Petkauskos, K., Stanislawzyk, J., & Vogt, J. (2014). Employer-recommended strategies to increase opportunities for people with disabilities. Journal of vocational Rehabilitation, 41(3), 237-248.
Metcalfe, J. D., Drake, R. E., & Bond, G. R. (2017). Economic, labor, and regulatory moderators of the effect of Individual Placement and Support among people with severe mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia bulletin, 44(1), 22-31.