Resources to help you hire workers with disabilities

Looking to expand your hiring pool? Individuals who have disabilities are a less-tapped, often well-educated workforce, who have an overall record of high employee retention. The U.S. Department of Labor provides resources to help with key steps for hiring individuals from this labor pool:

1. Recruiting assistance, including targeted job posting websites and a recruitment program for college students who have disabilities, and
2. Job accommodation resources, including free consultation on accommodation options for your business.

Resources to help recruit workers

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) offers these initiatives to help employers hire individuals with disabilities:

• The Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) is a free, nationwide service that offers resources for effective strategies for recruiting and hiring people with disabilities, including targeted job posting websites and success stories.
• The Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students with Disabilities (WRP) is a free resource that connects businesses with qualified job candidates. Employers can post jobs at WRP.jobs, and participants search and apply for positions.
• Hiring Veterans with Service-Connected Disabilities
• Steps Small Businesses Can Take to Recruit and Retain Qualified People with Disabilities
• Tax Incentives for Employers
• Inclusive Internship Programs: A How-to Guide for Employers

Job accommodation resources

You may have questions about how workers who have specific disabilities might perform the tasks of positions at your organization. Job accommodations bring many jobs within reach. Technology offers many solutions, but job accommodations can include work schedules and locations, or other options that may already be within your current operating plans. 

A job accommodation is an adjustment to a job or work environment that makes it possible for an individual with a disability to perform their job duties. Not all people with disabilities (or even all people with the same disability) need the same accommodation.

There are three areas in which reasonable accommodations may be needed:

• Adjustments to the job application process so a qualified applicant with a disability can be considered for a position
• Modifications to the physical work environment, or to the way a job is usually performed
• Changes that enable an employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment like those that are enjoyed by other employees without disabilities.

There are excellent resources to help address your accommodation-related questions and find viable, workable, affordable options.

• The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) provides free, expert advice on workplace accommodations that may be necessary to assist qualified individuals with disabilities apply for a job and maximize their productivity once onboard.
• JAN’s Workplace Accommodation Toolkit
• Employers’ Practical Guide to Negotiating and Requesting Reasonable Accommodations Under the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Maximizing Productivity: Accommodations for Employees with Psychiatric Disabilities
• Technology and Job Accommodations Bring Many Jobs Within Reach

Learn more about hiring individuals with disabilities.