On Wednesday, 15 March 2023, we hosted our first Employment Workshop for the year. These virtual workshops serve two functions: to educate employers, and identify businesses that can partner with QASA on its Work Readiness Programme by offering placement opportunities for the candidates. Several speakers were invited to address employers on the topic of employing people with disabilities.
Disability Inclusion Specialist Lesa Bradshaw shared during the event: “Disability rich businesses succeed.” She added that employees with disabilities only seek equal opportunity to participate in the formal work environment.
“People with disabilities are not asking for special treatment or work that [employers are under the impression] will let us succeed,” she said. Instead, she argued that people with disabilities only require equal access and opportunity.
“An employer’s job is to offer an equalised opportunity. It is the employee’s job to do the work to the employer’s standard,” Lesa explained.
However, this does require businesses to ask what the “disability barriers” might be – factors in the business that could prevent someone from doing their job effectively. This can be physical barriers, for example stairs, but also other barriers for example the attitudes of co-workers or a need for assistive devices.
Lesa encouraged employers: “Move away from thinking, ‘how can this person add value?’, but rather ask, ‘what is the disabling barrier?’. We are so focussed on the disability, we don’t look for [the person’s] potential.”
Businesses can greatly benefit from adjusting their approach to employing people with disabilities. According to Lesa: “Disability confident businesses have been found to outperform competitors by 30 percent because they created environments with dignity around disability; which creates a safe work environment for employees, but also helps employees to better respond to customers with disabilities.”
To provide a personal testimony, QASA invited Valentino Barends to speak on behalf of KeanClean Hygiene Solutions. The company hosted, and later employed, a Work Readiness Programme candidate. They have been with the company for several years.
While Valentino noted the benefits for the company, he explained that the process was not without its challenges. He specifically highlighted the need for orientation and sensitisation.
“The biggest challenges come from existing staff,” Valentino noted during the workshop. “Businesses need to prepared and empower [staff] to engage [with the person with a disability].” He added that it is helpful to have continuous refreshers for staff.
“There is a responsibility on the line manager and human resources to check in with the employee and other staff. It is especially important when there are changes to the work responsibilities,” Valentino shared.
With the candidate’s performance, the biggest obstacle was transport. Public transport is often unavailable, inaccessible or unreliable for people with disabilities. This could lead to them battling to get to the workplace, arriving late or being completely absent from the workplace. Fortunately, Valentino had a positive attitude and focused on solving the problem.
“I took the approach [of viewing it as] a normal employee and a challenge to address,” he recalled. The challenge has since been resolved, and now Valentino believes the candidate offers the business a lot.
“When we got over the challenge, everything else fell into place. There were a lot of challenges, but a lot more benefits. Do the right thing and get people with disabilities in. Provide them with an opportunity. You can start small. They just need the opportunity,” he concluded.
KeanClean Hygiene Solutions is looking to host and employ more candidates from our programme. We are grateful for their support, and for Valentino who shared the company’s experience.
We would like to thank all the speakers and attendees of the workshop. We hope that it inspires you to consider employing people with disabilities. All it requires is a positive outlook, some creative problem solving and sensitisation for current staff.
Keep an eye on our social media pages for any future Workshops.