To Table of Contents
Why it makes good business sense to hire people with disabilities
Authors :
Catherine E . Connelly , Canada Research Chair and Professor of Organizational Behaviour , McMaster University
Sandra L . Fisher , Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer , Human Resource Management and Technology , Münster University of Applied Sciences
Managers sometimes assume that hiring employees who live with disabilities will be more expensive . They worry that these employees will perform at a lower level , be absent more often , need expensive accommodations and will then quit .
But should managers worry about these things ?
We present a way for managers to evaluate both the net costs and benefits of having employees with disabilities , and we consider all these factors . When
we tested our method at one company , we found that it actually saved money by hiring people with disabilities .
To calculate the net value of employing people with disabilities , companies can run what is known as a
utility analysis that takes into account direct costs associated with wages , benefits , training and accommodation . It also considers indirect costs such as turnover and absences .
Direct costs are easily tabulated , but indirect costs are based on industry estimates .
For example , turnover costs can be estimated as one to 2.5 times the annual salary of the worker