Toronto Star Article – May 28, 2012 – Response from Mark Wafer to Writer, Alison Griffiths.
I read your article this morning. I am a Tim Hortons franchise owner and an advocate for people with disabilities especially in the area of employment.
I am deaf. I have about 20% hearing and have been since birth. I could not keep a job as a young man but became a successful business owner. Since I understand first-hand the barriers people with disabilities face in order to get work, I began hiring people with disabilities in my first Tim Horton’s in 1995 and to date I have hired 82 PWD’s and currently have 33 out of a workforce of 210 in my six locations.
Why did I do this? Simply because I saw a business benefit as time went on. Of course it was the right thing to do, but that isn’t reason enough for business owners to hire PWD’s. My employee turnover went down, my WSIB claims went down. I quickly realized that employing PWD’s was good for business, low absenteeism, higher staff morale, lower turnover (very expensive), higher productivity and so on. Several of my employees with disabilities have been employee of the year.
All are in meaningful positions, no charity. That means competitive salaries as well as having to be replaced if sick. This includes every department from managers to front line staff, production and logistics.
Now we know that this is the way forward. We cannot use the same old message that service providers have used in the past. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is the same today as it was in 1970 so clearly it isn’t working, but if we can show business owners that there is a benefit to hiring PWD’s we will see a lot more doors opened.
Here are a few more facts, studies show that employees who have a disability work 97% safer, have attendance records 86% greater, stay on the job up to 5 times longer, increase morale to the point that non-disabled staff stay longer (huge win for me). Accommodations average $500 but in most cases its zero, and best of all, productivity is 20% higher.
Why? Because the job is precious, it took a long time to get that job.
I cannot buy the loyalty my disabled staff have for my company. What business would not want this. Now let’s look at the financial side of this problem. The unemployment rate for PWD’s is actually closer to 70% because so many have given up or are considered unemployable. The unemployment rate during the great depression was 25% and was considered a national tragedy yet society is comfortable with a 70% rate for PWD’s This equates to an ODSP cost to the province of Ontario of $3.2b. This is growing at 5% per year, totally unsustainable and this is why the province set up the review commission on ODSP and welfare.
My best baker is deaf. Her ovens have chimes, bells and warnings. This hasn’t prevented her from being an awesome addition to our staff. In one day she figured out how to get around those audible warnings.
PWD’s are more innovative. Quite frankly a person in a wheelchair has to be innovative just to get through the day. Imagine how that mindset helps a pod or team at a workplace.
Mark Wafer
Video: Mark Wafer speaking at an EmployABILITY event
Benefits of Hiring Persons with Disabilities – Posted December 12, 2012
Individuals with disabilities are a usually untapped talent pool for organizations, particularly for the population we are featuring in this multi-media tool. With the challenges that the current workforce demographics present, recruiting and retaining people with disabilities might provide an opportunity to counter the effects of the aging and shrinking workforce.
Disability can affect anyone at any point in life, either by being born with it, getting sick or engaging in an accident. In a moment one can become a member of one of the largest demographics worldwide.
One in every five people in Canada currently lives with a disability—while in the world, 1.1 billion people live with a disability, making it the largest and fastest growing minority group.
It is a fact that as we age, our probability of having a disability increases. 22.6 percent of 45 to 54 year olds have some form of disability; 44.9 percent of 65 to 69 year olds have some form of disability; and 73.6 percent of people over 80 have some form of disability. With people living longer this creates a very compelling reason for organizations to include persons with disabilities in their employee pool.
Despite the advances and government initiatives to further employment opportunities for people with disabilities, they still remain significantly unemployed or under-employed.
Businesses must start considering this talent pool, and integrating them to their organization, tapping into the benefits that this brings.
Disability Diversity – Tim Hockey, Sr. Executive VP of TD Bank Financial Group, discusses the reasons behind the lacking advancement of opportunities for people with disabilities. He begins by highlighting that employees, businesses and HR leaders and managers are not well informed as how to best meet the needs of this diversity group.
It seems like only those living with disabilities understand the needs. This pushes organizations to integrate them into high management so they can act as a change agent furthering opportunities and better accommodations for others within the company.
He also discusses the story of Serasa Experian, a Brazilian company that has integrated a diverse workforce and supplied special accommodations for employees with disabilities. Serasa Experian was motivated to take on these actions by the Brazilian law on disabilities, which emphasizes representation of people with disabilities within an organization.
Benefits for Business
The reasons include:
- Opportunity to access new markets: customers with disabilities and their families, friends and associates represent a trillion dollar market segment who tend to purchase products and services from companies that best meet their needs.
- Attracting a wider customer base by mirroring employees who match the market. This will increase your market share.
- Increased retention because people with disabilities, unfortunately, find fewer job opportunities, they tend to be loyal to their employers, thus reducing turnover.
- Stimulating new product and service development through disability-inclusive diverse teams
- Bringing unique experiences and understanding by hiring people with disabilities boosts innovation, which can transform a workplace and enhance products and services.
- Customizing products and services to increase profitability.
- Impacting corporate image by demonstrating commitment to the community.
- Boosting productivity through operational changes that benefit not only people with disabilities but all employees.
These are just some of the opportunities that hiring individuals with disabilities represent for a company. It is up to every organization to identify and create new benefits for itself.
Hiring a qualified person with a disability brings greater benefits beyond just filling an open job. There’s a solid business case, too. Here are just a few of the benefits of hiring people with disabilities:
- INCREASED REVENUES
Access new markets. Improve productivity through innovative and effective ways of doing business.
- REDUCED COSTS
Reduce hiring and training costs. Increase retention. Reduce costs associated with conflict and litigation.
- ENHANCED SHAREHOLDER VALUE
Marketing – Customers with disabilities and their families, friends and associates represent a trillion dollar market segment. They, like other market segments, purchase products and services from companies that best meet their needs. A large number of Canadians also say they prefer to patronize businesses that hire people with disabilities. Another of the benefits of employing people with disabilities is increasing your opportunity to gain a lasting customer base.
- CAPITALIZING ON NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
Mirror the market to attract a wider customer base. Increase your market share.
- DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Innovation—Innovation is key to your business’ success. Employees with disabilities bring unique experiences and understanding that transform a workplace and enhance products and services. As part of your team, employees with disabilities help build your business and can lead your company into the future.
- WORKPLACE INNOVATION
Create more efficient and effective business processes. Develop and implement management strategies to attract and retain qualified talent. Use technology in new ways to increase productivity.
- PRODUCT AND SERVICE INNOVATION
Stimulate new product and service development through disability-inclusive diverse teams. Customize products and services to increase profitability.
- DEFINING THE FUTURE
Foster the development of next-generation products and services. The Best Advocates for those with Disabilities Are those with Disabilities Everyone Needs Accommodation
Business Case for Hiring Persons With Disabilities – Webinar – 23 May, 2012
Hiring people with disabilities is consistent with our values and business objectives. We engage communities and receive huge appreciation in the communities in which we operate. A very senior leader found out he had autism – he is an academic with a very successful career and found out later in his career why he had some struggles – he is a very strong advocate for persons with disabilities hiring agenda – talks openly about it and pushes the agenda from the inside out. Yanda Verbeek, Senior Consultant Diversity and Inclusion, Global Diversity and Inclusion – Shell
Disabled Individuals Bring Innovation to the Workforce – Posted 04/12/2013
As the U.S. disabled population grows amidst increasing challenges to American economic competitiveness on the world stage, the time is ripe to change our perceptions of disability and integrally incorporate the creative and often resilient disabled population into our workforce.
The American Association of People With Disabilities recently reported that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is twice the national average. During the recession, people with disabilities lost jobs five times faster than people without disabilities. In addition, only 25 percent of people with disabilities are meaningfully employed, while 75 percent are unemployed or underemployed. Contrary to popular belief, this in large part is not due to a lack of desire or capability to work.
Disabled individuals overwhelmingly want to work — and they bring innovative perspectives to the table. Employees with disabilities have skills and experience that can’t be found in other population sectors.
After all, many of the greatest innovators and leaders in history had disabilities-and the challenges they faced played a critical role in their ability to achieve greatness. President Roosevelt, though unable to walk, led the mightiest country in history through the Great Depression and World War II. The father of relativity, Mr. Einstein himself, experienced learning disabilities in his youth. And Beethoven, arguably the greatest composer of all time, couldn’t hear!
Since confronted with life difficulties that require creative adaptation and ingenuity on a daily basis, disabled individuals know resilience, and they know how to think out-of-the-box and on their feet, or wheels. In fact, recent studies show employers who hire people with disabilities report a higher level of dedication and increased retention.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, workers with disabilities are rated consistently as average or above average in performance, quality and quantity of work, flexibility, and attendance.
The growth rate of the American disabled population is growing tremendously and is outpacing any other subgroup of the U.S. population, according to the Disability Funders Network. Between 1990 and 2000, for example, the number of Americans with disabilities increased 25 percent, making people with disabilities represent the single largest minority group seeking employment in today’s marketplace.
At the same time, the disabled are nearly twice as likely as people without disabilities to have an annual household income of $15,000 or less.
For the sake of U.S. competitiveness — and above all, equality — it is time to prove wrong the common misperception that individuals with disabilities are non-active members of society. It is time to reframe the negative perception of disability as instead an opportunity-filled and growth-inducing challenge. It is time for employers to hire people with disabilities. It is time to pursue a policy of inclusion and smart economics, quiet simply because disabled individuals bring uniqueness and innovation to the workplace — something our economy vitally requires.
Global Diversity and Inclusion, Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce, Forbes Insight Magazine, April 2012
The globalization of business has created a sophisticated, complex, and competitive environment. In order to be successful, companies need to continually create new products and services. And the best way to ensure the development of new ideas is through a diverse and inclusive workforce.
A diverse and inclusive workforce is necessary to drive innovation, foster creativity, and guide business strategies. Multiple voices lead to new ideas, new services, and new products, and encourage out-of-the-box thinking. Today, companies no longer view diversity and inclusion efforts as separate from their other business practices, and recognize that a diverse workforce can differentiate them from their competitors by attracting top talent and capturing new clients.
And while diversity and inclusion efforts at companies are a given, organizations still face external and internal challenges in implementing these policies and procedures. Internally, companies are still struggling with negative attitudes about diversity among their rank-and-file, while externally, a rocky economic recovery has impeded many companies’ hiring efforts.
Looking forward, companies must also grapple with an aging workforce, a declining pipeline of qualified talent, and the challenges of managing a multigenerational workforce. But as long as organizations can keep their “eye on the prize,” that is, to keep diversity and inclusion efforts at the top of their priority list, it will position them to weather these challenges and come out ahead of the competition.
Exploring the Bottom Line: A Study of the Costs and Benefits of Workers with Disabilities – DePaul Study, December 2012.
To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine the economic costs and benefits of workers with disabilities in the general workforce of three business sectors (healthcare, retail, and hospitality). Prior examinations of this topic have been based primarily on single companies, which have found that workers with disabilities were hardworking, reliable, and not costly in terms of accommodations. Findings from the cost-benefit survey phase of this project support what has been found with the disabled workforce at Sears, Roebuck, and Company and E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company and indicate that workers with disabilities have much to contribute to the labor force (particularly when one considers job performance and supervision).
Participants with disabilities from the retail sector also stayed on the job longer, had lower absenteeism rates, and had an equivalent number of worker’s compensation claims when compared to participants without disabilities. Tenure, unscheduled absenteeism, and number of worker’s compensation averages were not as favorable for healthcare participants with disabilities. Further, when reported by employers, the provision of accommodations for participants with disabilities was uncommon and, for the most part, low to no cost. Additionally, findings from the focus group phase of this project suggest that although administrators expressed positive attitudes toward workers with disabilities, they were concerned that manager biases may be inhibiting work opportunities for this group. Overall, there appears to be a disconnect between the performance of workers with disabilities (as evident through the cost-benefit survey findings) and managers’ perceptions of this group. This disconnect may be particularly apparent among managers and employers who have limited experience with workers with disabilities and limited knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act.