6 Ways to Create an Inclusive Workplace for Employees With Disabilities

Today, more and more businesses are interested in becoming truly inclusive — but you may be struggling to put these principles into practice, especially in regards to supporting employees with disabilities. These tips will help you cultivate a more inclusive environment for job applicants and staff with disabilities, like fulfilling obligations for reasonable accommodations and offering attractive benefits.

Inclusive Job Descriptions

Before you even begin the hiring process for an open role, take time to ensure that your job descriptions are written in an inclusive manner. Try to avoid using complicated jargon, utilize gender-neutral terms, and eliminate language that might come across as ableist. You can also take care to remove any terms that might be culturally loaded.

Also consider the formatting of your job recruitment materials. Using PDFs is a good option over Word or image files, since they can be viewed on any device without losing image quality or formatting. This makes them easy to view even for those with vision loss. You can try this tool if you need to convert a Word or image file to a PDF.

Compensation for Skills Assessments

If skills assessments are a typical part of your interview process, think of ways you could fairly compensate candidates for their time. For people with disabilities, job hunting can be difficult, so compensating candidates for the extra time required to complete assessments is considerate. 

Assistive Device Compatibility

If your company’s website is incompatible with assistive devices, people with disabilities may not even be able to access information about your business. Accessibility states that you should “audit” your website to check that it is compatible with screen readers, hearing aids, auto-captioning, speech-to-text tools, and adaptive mouses and keyboards.

Workplace Accommodations

As an employer, you are legally required to provide reasonable accommodations that will enable employees with disabilities to perform the core functions of their role. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with some common accommodations. Business Management Daily states that many employers provide accommodations like reserved parking, larger offices with ample room for mobility aids, elevator privileges, welcoming service animals, or allowing more frequent work breaks.

Robust Benefits Packages

Employees with disabilities will likely be especially concerned with your benefits package, including your health insurance plan options, paid time off and sick day allowances, and disability leave policies. Talk to the leaders in your human resources department to ensure that your benefits package is truly comprehensive and meets the needs of employees with disabilities.

Remote Work and Flexible Hours

Nowadays, countless workers prefer to work remotely, and they specifically seek out companies that allow them to telecommute. However, employees with disabilities may not view remote work as a nice perk, but as a necessity, especially if they cannot drive. If you do not currently allow your employees to work remotely, start formulating a plan that will enable your employees to work from home without sacrificing your company’s productivity or quality of service. Conducting video interviews can also make the application process easier for people with disabilities.

In addition to introducing a remote work policy, you could also permit certain employees to work more flexible hours. Employees with disabilities may struggle to find time for doctor’s appointments outside typical office hours, so flexible hours can be a welcome change.

Lots of professionals with disabilities struggle to find workplaces where they are genuinely supported. By prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion at your organization, you can help employees with disabilities thrive. With these tips, you’ll be ready to create effective recruiting materials, compensate candidates for interview assessments, ensure your website is compatible with assistive devices, and implement flexible hours.