In this episode, Linda Hunt and Ingrid Muschta talk about;

• Debunking myths about hiring individuals with disabilities.
• The positive impacts of inclusive hiring on productivity and business growth.
• How businesses can effectively integrate inclusive hiring.
• And many more!

Ingrid’s Bio: 

Ingrid is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario with 20+ years of combined working experience in corporate, entrepreneurial, and not-for-profit settings.  

Since 2017, Ingrid has worked with the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN) first as a Diversity & Inclusion Specialist and now as Director of Special Projects & Innovation. As a D&I Specialist, Ingrid was instrumental in moving 250 people who have a disability to into employment and delivered the ODEN Disability Awareness and Confidence Training to over 500 business members. In latest role Ingrid contributes to ODEN’s mission by working alongside a team of professionals who identify and promote innovative and promising practices in both the business and employment service provider sector. 

Ingrid is a confident leader with excellent interpersonal and relationship management skills; she’s an experienced trainer, who has effectively delivered content to multicultural and multigenerational audiences locally and internationally; lastly, Ingrid is a professional with strong project management, program, and procedure development skills.

Ingrid’s vision for her son who has Down syndrome is in-line with that of all parents. She has a vision her son will grow up in a society where people with disabilities will participate in formal higher education; that as citizens, they will be engaged in equal and meaningful employment; her vision is that they will access and contribute to decision-making processes, which directly impacts their lives, and they will be recognized as vibrant contributors to their communities.  

Connect with Ingrid:

Twitter: @odenetwork

Facebook: @ODENetwork

LinkedIn: @ontario-disability-employment-network

Email: imuschta@odenetwork.com

About the Host:

Linda Hunt Is an Award-Winning Accessibility Consultant, Speaker and Author. She is the CEO of Accessibility Solutions and an Advocate for all things related to accessibility. 

Linda is the Treasurer of Citizens with Disabilities – Ontario a member of the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Professional Network and a Certified Community Champion on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.  

Linda first became a person with a disability in 2004 since then she has been an active and engaging speaker to groups on a variety of accessibility topics. 

In addition, Linda is a business owner. Along with her husband Greg they have operated Grelin Apparel Graphics for over 30 years.

Connect with Us:

Website – www.solutions4accessibility.com

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibility-solutions/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/solutions4accessibility

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRBqblsq_vxrKbdvEp2IOWQ

Thanks for listening!

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Speaker 0:02

Welcome to the accessibility solutions podcast hosted by Linda hunt, an award winning accessibility consultant, speaker and author. With over 30 years experience in senior management roles and a deep passion for creating inclusive environments. Linda brings us unmatched expertise and credibility to our discussions join us as they explore transformative power of accessibility and inclusion in today's world. Through captivating conversations, Linda shares her wealth of knowledge provides practical solutions and sheds light on the latest trends and advancements in the field. Whether you're a business owner or disability advocate, or simply curious about the world of accessibility, this podcast is your go to resource. Get ready to unlock new perspectives, break down barriers and embark on a journey of empowerment. Are you ready to create a more inclusive world? Let's begin. Welcome to the accessibility solutions podcast.

Linda 1:01

Ingrid 4:36

Thank you. Thank you, Linda. And thank you for that fulsome introduction. I sometimes forget you know the things that you put on the website and realize that that was a needed. I'm Ingrid Musa. I am the director of special projects and Innovation at the interior Disability Employment Network. It is truly a pleasure to be here with you today. And I just want to acknowledge that we are very thankful to accessibility solutions to Branford Business Resource Enterprise Center The Chamber of Commerce of brand for brands as well as the Grand River council on aging for providing us an opportunity to spread a message that should resonate with those businesses in the call who are having a hard time accessing labor and are looking for outside the box thinking we're looking for outside conventional methods of hiring. And I really taken a look at how they can be more mindful and be more reflective of the community that they live on by becoming an employer of choice with a disability community. So as Linda has already noted, I am with the Ontario Disability Employment Network. And let me just give you a very brief overview of who we are all in all the Ontario Disability Employment Network has been in operation for about 12 years. We are a network of employment service providers. These are agencies in your community who are united to increase employment opportunities for people who have a disability. I think it's very important at this point to note that Odin does not offer services directly to job seekers. But rather, we work with agencies in our network to connect those job seekers to the businesses in their community who are looking for talent. We're looking for people who can fulfill those positions that are going unfilled for you then our work is very diverse in the backgrounds and the expertise of our membership. And members are located across the province of Ontario, and support people living with all types of disabilities often has about 140 members, as I said across Ontario, and we do have some members that have a national footprint. So if you are a business that operates outside of Ontario, we can also help you connect you to the labor force that you're looking for you

Before I move forward, I think it's very important to also note that disability is very personal disability is very complex. And this ability is, as I said, very personal. So the way that people experience disability and the way that people live with this, disabilities will be very unique to those individuals. So I don't want this to sound like I'm simplifying disability, but I want to provide you with generic information that will empower you to better connect to the labor force in your communities, some who may have a disability, and some who may already be in your in your workforce already. So as I'm talking about Odin, the best way to explain what we do will be to give you an idea of the pillars of engagement for the work that we do. So this pillars support our mission, which is to increase employment opportunities for people who have a disability, and to provide them access to meaningful employment. So what do we do, we work with the business sectors, people such as yourselves, to help you build your capacity to attract to hire onboard and promote people who have a disability. And we do that by a number of services that can be offered some at no charge, and some four feet. So we can provide training, we can provide opportunities for networking. Within our own network, we can provide training on a number of areas such as disability awareness and confidence, we can provide you with access to mock interviews, perhaps you already know that you want to hire for the disability community, but you don't know how to access the talent, or you may not feel confident enough to yet invite somebody for an interview. So this is are some of the services that Oregon can provide, we can match you your business, to a local employment service provider, and that can begin to build that network, that community that partnership within your community, those will be services that are no charge, we work on the pillar number two, with our own network with our own sector, the employment service sector, to build their capacity to see themselves as an extension of your human resources department, or perhaps to see themselves as your human resources department, if you're a small to medium sized business. So we provide that capacity building through training, through networking within our own or sectors so that we can connect agencies that are just on the cusp of providing employment service support with some of the more experienced agencies, creating that mentorship within our own sector, we work in the area of innovation and promising practices. And this is where myself and my team live, quote, unquote, we scan both the private and the not for profit, or the business and the employment service sector, to find those agencies that are doing innovative outside of the box thinking work, that those agencies that are doing the best work are connecting businesses with labor with our job seekers who have a disability. And we analyze that their promising practices and bring them back to our sector to disseminate that knowledge. We do the same with businesses, we'll scan the business in different industries, different sectors, to try and identify who's connecting to people who have a disability in an innovative of force, right or thinking way and acquiring that knowledge translated in disseminated in across the business sector in the employment service, we consult with different levels of government, we do not lobby the government. But we are asked as subject matter experts on disability inclusion in the workforce to come and set our tables where policies been developed. And the last pillar of our engagement with different stakeholders is around engaging with stakeholders who have an ultimate outcome, unemployment for people who have a disability. And so this will be educational providers, post secondary educational institutions, family networks, we do a lot of advocacy and presentations to those groups, to let them understand that they play a very critical role in ensuring that young people who have a disability have the foundational skills that you as an employer are looking to have in your workforce. So we do a lot of work with those stakeholders. So now that I told you a little bit about who we are and what we do, I think we'll start with that whole concept of what we were here for, when the presentation was marketed and promoted. There was a number of learning outcomes that we talked about. And the first one was around the facts for what is disability and what is not, and debunking some of the myths that continue to create barriers for people who have a disability in the workplace. So I want to start first with the facts. You may or may not be aware of them, but 22% of the Canadian population, self identifies as having a disability. That's the

And so let me give you a very quick overview of what still are some of the myths out there in terms of why people who have a disability continue to find various Myth number one is performance. As you can see on the screen, that people who have a disability are not going to perform to the same level of productivity that you're looking for. That's a myth, both from the data that we have seen through research as well as anecdotally, with businesses that have higher inclusively. 90% of workers who have a disability will perform at the same level or better than those who do not have a disability. second myth is around attendance, that people who have a disability be maybe getting more sick more often or may not show up. That's also a myth. We have data that shows us that 86% of people who have a disability have average or above average records when it comes to attendance. The third myth and one as an engineer, one that I'm really always want to debunk the loudest is around safety that people who have a disability would have score safety record. It's too bad that we're doing this virtually because if we were together, you would see that I'm only 515 foot one and so I know that I'm sure and I know what my limitations will be. So I will not be you know putting myself into a dangerous

Is that concept of having access to a workplace, that is prepare, I already gave you that number that 50% of people who have a disability, have the academic have the skills and competencies that you need, because they have already gone for those through post secondary education. So that is a prepared workforce that is ready and willing to come in join your businesses. The next one is around customer loyalty. As I mentioned earlier, you know, disability, the National Business Disability Council did a research on in 2017, a survey, and they identify that 78% of Canadians are more likely to buy products or services from businesses that show an intentional inclusion of people who have a disability that I told you, I will go out of my way, provide my hard earned dollars, two businesses that have a disability inclusive mission. And the last one is around productivity. That organization I was telling you about the Job Accommodation Network, they have found that employers who accommodate employees who have a disability through inclusive hiring practices, see their increase employees productivity higher up to jump up to 72%. So you know, what does all of this mean, we know that through COVID, you are probably feeling the impact of COVID. And the changing nature of what we're seeing right now, we know that there is a demand a very high demand for labor in industries such as food production, supply, manufacturing, tourism, hospitality, you name it, all of you're looking for labor. And we know that there has been also a push to changes in the workforce that are required or there I see a lot more people wanting to do work from home. But what we have found is that for those organizations that are providing some work from home opportunities, where possible 80% of them surveyed their people and said that they are enjoying the ability to work from home that 41% So more productivity because people were able to do work from home. And that 28% say that they were just as productive as they would have been in the office. This is kind of a some of those accommodations that the disability community has been talking about for a while, you know, for people who have episodic disabilities, really understanding when their disability is going to flare up is difficult. And so working from home provides them the opportunity to be productive to be a contributor to the local economy, while taking into consideration their disability. And we're talking about people who have degrees, accountants, marketing, business administration, people that can work from their own homes, just as I am doing right now. So you know, we talk about the benefits, we talk about why you want to do why you want to hire from the disability community, I think that is worth putting some numbers as well as the return on investment. for inclusion in the workplace. I don't have to tell you this employee turnover is costly. There is a lot of data out there that tells us numbers that are meaningful to you. For example, Sodexo did a study and found out that when they have to replace a front line employee, they were looking at a cost of about $4,000 for their turnover. If that replacement was the manager the cost was 15,000. Manulife has another research that shows that their base salary cost on turnover was about 40,000, or sorry for a position that has a base salary of about 48,000, their cost of turnover was 18,000. And it's very similar in food and hospitality, those numbers of around 4000 That includes the time that you put in to train somebody, the time uniforms, if you're providing uniforms, provides the salaries of people who are mentoring that person to be up to speed. So cost of turnover is high. And as I said before, you know, people who have a disability will tend to stay. And we know that about 70 by by as much as 72%. That's the retention rate for employees who have a disability. But there's also something else that's happening. And I don't have a data to show in a line. But for companies that hire more inclusively, not only are you retaining those employees who have disability, you're also retaining people who do not have a disability. Because when a business becomes more disability inclusive, the employee engagement goes up people in your own existing workforce will see that you are accommodating that you are looking to have them be truly themselves to not fear and to trust yourself as an organization. And so those employees will tend to stay longer as

is much faster than what they had anticipated. So coming bringing us back to those learning outcomes that we had talked about, we had talked about, you know, debunking the myths, providing information, real information about the business case for hire more inclusively providing you with a couple of examples of case studies. And now we're looking at how do we create? How do we engage people who have a disability to create this inclusive workforce. And this is not an exhaustive list. These are a number of opportunities for reflection for you for your business to think about how do you engage the disability community, but the first one is to review accessibility in your workplace. You know, from the built environment to the processes that you're utilizing to attract new hire, onboarding, promote your employees? Who are you connecting to help you and support you? I've already told you that we have a network of about 140 agencies, these are your resources in your communities, get to know them so that you can be connecting to the talent and you need review your recruitment processes. Are you being a you attracting intentionally, talent who has a disability? Do you indicate that you will provide accommodations across the entire span of the hiring process? For anyone who has a disability? If somebody is requesting an interview, we assume because they can accommodate teams, that may be a solid way of telling you that they got their accommodation request? You know, I know that teams sometimes can be a little bit difficult when it comes to closed captions. So keep that in mind. Is the interviewer asking for something in a subtle way that may be an accommodation reviewed your job descriptions? We typically tend to use boilerplate templates when it comes to job posting, but some of them are inadvertently creating barriers, you know, an easy one is that example of must have a driver's license. Does the job require a driver's license? Or are you asking the person for a clearance check? Why are you you know is the license is the driving is driving an essential function of the job. And if it isn't, then remove it. Because if somebody who has a disability sees that, it automatically and they don't have a license, they will automatically exclude themselves, and not even allowing that opportunity for connection. Provide access to training for all of your employees nowadays is a lot easier. There's a lot a number of organizations such as Odin that are providing an excellent content, provide an opportunity for your employees to have access to that knowledge so that they are empowered not only to work with people who have a disability, but to serve customers who have a disability. Remember that creating an inclusive workforce is not only good for you, as a business is good for the community because you becoming an employer, a service provider or choice, build the relationships that you need, with employment service providers in your community. And some of these things that I've been talking about, there's a number of really, really good resources in our website or the network that come under the business tab, business resources. They're all for free, calm and download them we have resources on providing exclusive interviews, resources on tips for ensuring that you're communicating that you're a business that is open to the disability community. They're very digestible pieces of information that you can be looking at. So make sure that you visit our website, I will put that link as well in the chat when we when I finished talking. I'm close to the end window. The next learning objective we had was about ensuring that you implement this in a successful manner. And the very first thing I'm going to say is that you have to be motivated and intentional in your motivation. Be mindful, that checkbox is not going to work here. Be mindful that hiring one person who stuff is not going to work here. Be mindful that you know you have to prepare for the journey really is a journey, particularly if you've never had had the opportunity to know someone who has a disability or work with someone who has a disability. But be intentional manage the process. Well, there are many organizations such as ourselves, who can support you through that journey. employment service providers, see them as your extension to your human resources department. They want you to succeed because when you succeed, they are many more job seekers. They can connect to the labor market so they have your success in mind. Create an inclusive work environment again by you know, review what the built environment looks like. But what does the other processes in your business are looking for from a disability lens in business?