OKLAHOMA CITY – Disability is an irrelevant label to employers who have found their best and most loyal workers in one of the state’s largest untapped workforce pools.
Studies consistently show hiring people with disabilities boosts creativity, productivity, profit margins and morale. A 2023 report featured on Accenture, a professional service tech company, indicated employers who prioritized hiring people with disabilities outperformed their competitors by as much as 1.6 times in revenue, 2.6 times more net income and twice as much in profit.
Lisa Toth knows firsthand why businesses who hire people with disabilities benefit from doing so. She’s the owner of Tulsa-based Rise Staffing, and host of the related podcast, the Hidden Workforce. Rise Staffing helps people with developmental disabilities find jobs.
“People with developmental or other disabilities that are entering the workforce have had to work harder than average people do just to get where they are right now,” Toth said. “When they come to you as an employee, they’re going to give you everything they’ve got. They don’t think anything’s coming to them for nothing and they’re going to exchange their talents and work for your money.”
More than half a million Oklahomans identify with having at least one disability and nationwide, one in three live in rural areas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Disabilities range from physical impairments to developmental disorders such as intellectual disability or Down syndrome.
From restaurant and hotel work to high-level tech jobs, people with disabilities can do far more than most employers realize, Toth said.
“There are people who are on the (autism) spectrum who are software engineers,” she said. “It’s just sometimes they need a leg up.”
Toth placed a young man with Down syndrome who is working for a restaurant and buses tables. Another employee she placed in a job required a wheelchair and a speech device to help him communicate with customers. Yet another employee who struggles to verbally communicate solved a complex electronic problem in Toth’s office. She said it might take him several minutes to answer, but the information and the response is there in his mind.
“Just because someone might look a little bit different doesn’t mean they’re not a person,” Toth said. “Just because they may take a minute to answer, please just give them that minute to answer.”
Toth said employers who take on people with disabilities find they are their best workers and often later call her office back and ask if she has any more job seekers with disabilities.
Jody Harlan, communications director for the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services, said their programs provide resources for people with disabilities in the workplace, including physical equipment for on-the-job duties. The agency’s services are free to employees and employers.
With surprisingly few accommodations, these workers are often an employer's best hires, Harlan said.
“People with disabilities are often very resilient and good at solving problems,” she said. “They’ve had to make arrangements to go somewhere if they can’t drive. They’ve had to put their desk up on blocks because they’re in a wheelchair. They solve problems all the time.”
Whatever accommodations are required, Harlan said it can save an employer money in retention. National surveys show people with disabilities are five to seven times more likely to stay with an employer, she said.
In many cases, support needed for someone with a disability is simple to implement, and easily known in the interview process by asking simple questions such as “how will you complete this task?” or “what do you need to be successful here?” ––questions employers could ask every interviewee, Harlan said.
An ODRS client at the agency was experiencing an age-related hearing loss condition, Harlan recalled. As a receptionist, hearing was an important job function for the client, but the employer and the agency found technology to help her keep her job. The agency purchased equipment compatible with the employer’s Bluetooth phone system so she could hear.
“She had been an employee for a long time and they didn’t want to lose her,” Harlan said. “She kept her job and the employer was happy they didn’t have to search for or train anybody new.”
The agency’s clients are often ready to take jobs as they work with ODRS on barriers to employment as they assess their skills and support they need to reach career goals.
Employers also have the right to hold an employee with disabilities to the same standards as other employees, Harlan said.
“They have the right to expect that person to be qualified, the person with disability to complete the work, even though sometimes they might do it differently,” she said. “The employer has the option to provide more training or discharge someone if they’re not able to do the job.”
Harlan said employers who are interested in hiring their clients can contact the agency or visit their website’s employer page resources at oklahoma.gov/oksrs.
Editor’s note: this is the second installment in a series that explores Oklahoma’s underutilized workforce pools for employers searching to find employees.