Recruiting and employing disabled staff

The business case for employing disabled people

There are sound business reasons for employing disabled people. You can:

• Widen your pool of candidates from which to recruit staff.
• Gain a competitive advantage by having a diverse workforce which can attract a diverse range of customers - there are over ten million disabled people in the UK, most of whom are potential customers and/or employees.
• Make your business more representative of the community and foster a better public image as a fair and inclusive business.
• Improve staff morale and loyalty to a business considered inclusive and representative.
• Avoid claims of unlawful disability discrimination.

You can read about the benefits of employing disabled people on the Fast Forward website.

The costs of making adjustments are often very small, and there is financial and practical help available to employers from a range of sources to help improve access and facilities for disabled people. See the page in this guide on advice on disability and funding for employers.

As well as considering adaptations to your workplace, you could consider employing disabled people as homeworkers - see the guide on employees working from home. In many cases, their homes will already be equipped to meet their needs.