By Goff Public
In recognition of October’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month, MDI hosted a virtual roundtable that brought together experts to discuss the many meaningful ways Minnesota organizations can ensure that people with disabilities – an often-overlooked sector of the workforce – are included in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategies.
Roundtable participants – including MDI’s President and CEO Eric Black, 3M’s Benefits and Well-Being Coordinator Tia Schweiss, Olmsted County Assistant to the County Administrator Lisa Morris-Helmstetler, and MarketResponse International’s Managing Director Tom Pearson – shared their experiences and best practices in this space.
Here is what our experts had to share during the roundtable.
On the topic of barriers – specifically, the barriers that keep employers from pursuing the hiring of people with disabilities – and how we can eliminate them:
Setting aspirational hiring goals like employing more people with disabilities can be an intimidating lift, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the process or feel outside of your comfort zone. Eric Black explained how the barrier of fear – not knowing how to identify talent that will best fit your organization, letting that talent go if it’s not a strong match, and knowing how to accommodate employee needs – is palpable to many employers.
“One of the easiest ways that we have found to be most effective to removing barriers when we start with our Unified Work program and work with employers is not starting at the top, but searching for someone within the organization who has a lived experience,” said Eric. “It’s that individual who brings credibility and comfort to the organization. They’re able to translate their experience into value to the organization’s terms, which really helps us break down those barriers and distractions.”
Lisa Morris-Helmstetler cautioned how many of the barriers that exist in recruiting and retaining people with disabilities to the workforce are often unintentional, and can go unnoticed until you really look for them.
She shared her experience working with human resources when they were hiring for a role at Olmstead County to make the process more inclusive. The team ended up waiving an unnecessary requirement for a drivers’ license and removing higher education experience that wouldn’t be relevant to the role. Ultimately, Lisa was looking for someone with the right attitude who was passionate about public service, cared about people, and could be developed professionally.
She encouraged other employers who are looking for a starting point in the process to begin with similar considerations. “As individuals who are hiring and thinking about creating diverse teams that have folks with development disabilities on them, we can also change that trajectory one individual at a time,” Lisa said.
On advice for company leaders seeking to broaden their workforce to include people with disabilities:
In Tia Schweiss’ experience, cultivating an inclusive work environment begins with education.
“One thing that companies can do to help create that education environment is to conduct inclusivity training for all staff to participate in, because it’s going to impact everybody. It’s not just going to impact one manager, one supervisor, one individual,” she said. “Everybody should be included in that training.”
Tia shared that programming should include people who have disabilities or people who needed accommodations, as they can provide different, likely needed points of views and tools to make the training as accessible as possible. Lisa agreed, before speaking to her experience in seeing the power of an organization’s leadership stepping up to acknowledge both what they may know and don’t know.
“We have shifted to an expectation that all leaders are leading by example every day. That does not mean that you have to know everything, but it does mean that you’re open to conversations and you’re willing to step into that space… and be willing to get a conversation going.”
Tom Pearson provided insight from timely research his firm MarketResponse International recently conducted, where an employer respondent recommended that other employers reach out to knowledgeable nonprofits or the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) for help in their own individual journeys, which can often be a complicated, new, and uncharted process for many.
On the enormous benefits that people with disabilities uniquely contribute to their workplace:
Tia shared about her experience in the workplace as someone with a non-visible disability, explaining how a variety of her strengths stemming from her disability provide a whole host of positive attributes to her professional life and work ethic – from embracing change through her natural adaptability and getting creative to make tasks and processes more accessible for everyone, to being an empathetic problem-solver with an openness and dedication to efficiency.
“Being open and honest about my disability has helped me create an inclusive culture for myself, but also within the work environment of the people I work with,” explained Tia. “It’s helped others be more open and comfortable with me, and has helped us work together to create those networks to go above and beyond with inclusivity in the workplace and even bringing it beyond to our local communities.”
Eric Black noted how people with disabilities are not simply one homogeneous group, but instead come from a whole host of different identities, backgrounds and experiences just like everyone, such as geographic location, socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, and political affiliation. He explained how in his experience as President and CEO of MDI, hiring people with disabilities is something everyone can rally around, regardless of their differences.
“Individuals who work with people with disabilities are changed within the organization and are the same people who go back to their communities… changed fundamentally as a human being,” he said. “They carry that goodwill back in society – and they’re better. I think there’s societal benefits from this inclusiveness, because there’s so many things that divide us today. This is something I’ve found we can all really rally behind.”
Tom echoed Eric’s sentiment. “Bottom line is that for the state and for all of us – this is a good investment. It’s a good investment to support diversity, equity and inclusion for people with disabilities for so many reasons,” said Tom. “It’s working. It’s a good investment. DEI is a good thing, and it does benefit us all. It’s a big win-win.”
You can watch the full roundtable conversation here.
