Promoting Equal Work Opportunities For Persons With Disabilities
/People have low expectations and erroneous conceptions about the talents of individuals with disabilities, and as a result, not enough opportunities for people with impairments to work have been provided. Particularly in the workplace, there are still a lot of misconceptions and instances of unfair treatment.
Over the past decade, there has been a great deal of discussion and movement toward the goal of ensuring persons with disabilities have equal access to opportunities and are adequately represented in the workforce. Work is evolving in ways other than simply becoming more inclusive. The following is a list of things that you, as an employer, should or should not do to maximize the participation of disabled people at your place of business:
It is inappropriate to inquire about the mental or physical health of a potential employee or inquire about their medical history during the application or interview process. Make sure you only ask this question if you have a good reason to believe the people conducting the interviews require assistance with the application process or the interview itself. Both the text on forms and the amount of time spent on knowledge assessments have to be increased.
Have a conversation with the current worker or the prospective worker about what it means if they tell you they have a handicap. This will help figure out if reasonable accommodations can be made to help them do well at work and make up for any problems caused by their disability. Those problems could include not being able to lift heavy objects. Conversations with the employee's physician should take place during the back-to-work interview.
You could try reaching out to charities or other organizations that assist workers who have disabilities for assistance. Disability employment services like at Work Australia assist people with disabilities to secure their dream jobs. This would be a good place to start to get in touch with people with disabilities.
If you have a policy on equal employment opportunities, you need to make sure your staff is aware of these. When a case involving discrimination is brought before an employment tribunal, the judges will always seek to view a copy of the company's Equal Opportunities or Equality and Diversity policy. It is equally unwise to formulate a strategy but then fail to put it into action.
Mental illness is one of the forms of disability that is least visible to the outside world. Observe the behaviour of the staff members. The outcomes can range from decreased productivity at work to increased absenteeism to even acts of physical violence.
To make a "reasonable adjustment," a policy may be altered in any way that levelling the playing field will be beneficial. A sickness that is brought on by a handicap is not eligible for consideration if one of the prerequisites is that the applicant has been laid off. Learn everything you need to know about discrimination and job losses right here.
Make sure that a "won't do" (misconduct) is also a "can't do" before you hand out the appropriate punishment (capability). When an employee who is stressed out or worried acts violently toward a co-worker, the incident should be viewed as a capability issue so that the stressed out or worried employee can obtain the treatment they require.
For the sake of maintaining harmony in the workplace and ensuring that the highest possible standards are fulfilled, all supervisors and managers must get training on topics related to equality.
