LATAN offers inclusion training for businesses ready to begin their path to an Inclusive Business Culture. Due to the unique needs of each business, training is tailored specifically to your company’s goals for inclusion. For more information, contact our training specialists at 800-270-6185 or email us at demos@latan.org.
Impact to Inclusion: Inclusive Businesses Have Impact
“Impact!” This is terminology leading executives recognize. Impact has become a buzz word among business professionals. Surprisingly, few can discern what, if any, “Impact” they make. Yet, for businesses today, emphasis in defining their company’s impact is key to ensure growth and success.
“Inclusion!” This is another less common buzz word that is gaining momentum fast! Inclusive websites are already a part of legislation for government agencies and their contractors. Less surprisingly, most business professionals reference inclusion to be a workforce with people of different races, genders and cultures. However, inclusion is specifically defined as the full and successful integration of diverse people. Diversity not only includes people of different races and cultures, but it also refers to the inclusion of people with disabilities.
So, what does impact have to do with inclusion? When a company begins to examine all the factors that influence impact, they begin to recognize basic elements that are central to inclusion as well. As companies assess core values, they are led to identify their customers, distinguish purpose in their workforce, and realize strategies to improve both customer and staff satisfaction. The connection becomes evident: diverse customers need a diverse staff with an accessible environment in order to develop success that translates to impact.
In effect, companies committed to inclusion are companies who are committed to impact!
Visit the link below to learn more on how top companies with immeasurable impact have incorporated disability inclusion:
https://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/legacy/reports/Disability_final_v2.pdf
Business Case for Hiring Workers with Disabilities
Hiring qualified people with disabilities brings greater benefits: increased revenues through accessing new markets, reduced hiring and training costs, increased shareholder value and retention, and increased marketing potential.
Tax Credits for Hiring People with Disabilities
Disabled Access Credit
This provides a non-refundable credit for small businesses that incur expenditures for the purpose of providing access to persons with disabilities. An eligible small business is one that earned $1 million or less or had no more than 30 full-time employees in the previous year; they may take the credit each and every year they incur access expenditures.
Barrier Removal Tax Deduction
The Architectural Barrier Removal Tax Deduction encourages businesses of any size to remove architectural and transportation barriers to the mobility of persons with disabilities and the elderly. Businesses may claim a deduction of up to $15,000 a year for qualified expenses for items that normally must be capitalized.
Work Opportunity Tax Credit
This provides employer incentives to hire qualified individuals from target groups, which includes people with disabilities and veterans. The maximum tax credit ranges from $1,200 to $9,600 depending on the employee hired and the length of employment.
Targeted Group Employee
An employee is a member of a targeted group if he or she began working for you before 2020 and is a: Long-term family assistance recipient, Qualified recipient of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Qualified veteran, Qualified ex-felon, Designated community resident, Vocational rehabilitation referral, Summer youth employee, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (food stamps) recipient, SSI recipient, or Qualified long-term unemployment recipient.
Wounded Warrior Tax Credits:
- Veterans with Services-Connected Disabilities: Maintain the existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit for veterans with service-connected disabilities hired within one year of being discharged from the military. The credit is 40% of the first $12,000 of wages (up to $4,800).
- Long-Term Unemployed Veterans with Services-Connected Disabilities: A new credit of 40% of the first $24,000 of wages (up to $9,600) for firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities, who have been in receipt of unemployment compensation for longer than 6 months. The credit can be as high as $9,600 per veteran for for-profit employers or up to $6,240 for tax-exempt organizations. Certain tax-exempt organizations can take advantage of WOTC by hiring eligible veterans and receiving a credit against the employer’s share of Social Security taxes.
Myths vs Facts
- Myth – Workers with disabilities do not have the right skills to work.
- Fact – Workers with disabilities have proven strengths and qualities valuable to the workforce.
- Myth – Workers with disabilities have poor job performance and are hard to manage.
- Fact – Workers with disabilities have the same or better performance ratings than non-disabled workers. A Harris poll revealed that 82 percent of managers claimed it was not any harder to manage workers with disabilities than nondisabled workers.
- Myth – Workers with disabilities have greater absences and cannot be relied upon.
- Fact – Workers with disabilities have fewer absences and job changes than their peers without disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are reliable and loyal employees.
- Myth – Supports (accommodations) are too costly to hire people with disabilities.
- Fact – 73 percent of people with disabilities don’t require any accommodations. More than half of the 27 percent needing accommodations had costs lower than $500. The most common accommodation is a flexible schedule.
- Myth – Poor safety ratings and higher workers comp. insurance rates.
- Fact – Employee safety ratings are found to be the same or better for employees with disabilities versus non-disabled employees. In addition, insurance rates are not based on whether the company hires workers with disabilities.
- Myth – Hiring people with disabilities can adversely affect a company’s bottom line.
- Fact – The opposite is true! Hiring people with disabilities provides businesses with a competitive edge.
Beginning the Path to Inclusion
Businesses with a Competitive Edge
There are many benefits to hiring people with disabilities! So, how can your company successfully recruit qualified workers with disabilities? The first steps to successful recruitment and hiring workers with disabilities is to begin developing an “Inclusive Business Culture” within your company. An inclusive business culture is the full and successful integration of diverse people in a workplace.
Become a company with a competitive edge by fostering inclusion. Initial steps include: Generating buy-in from your executive staff. Success begins with leaders who foster inclusivity!
Educate Human Resource Staff on all aspects of an inclusive business culture.
Develop a plan that incorporates employee-wide training on the fundamental behaviors and the essential elements of an inclusive business culture.
Implement your plan, and begin recruiting valuable, qualified employees!
LATAN offers inclusion training for businesses ready to begin their path to an Inclusive Business Culture. Due to the unique needs of each business, training is tailored specifically to your company’s goals for inclusion. For more information, contact our training specialists at 800-270-6185 or email us at demos@latan.org.
LATAN is a 501(c)(3) statewide nonprofit organization with the mission to help people of all ages with functional limitations or disabilities to gain greater independence at work, home, or school through the use of Assistive Technology(AT).
Payment Options: We accept Healthy Blue, LA Healthcare Connections, AmeriHealth, Caritas, Medicare, Private Pay and a Sliding Fee Scale is available.
Device Demonstrations and items available on the AT Marketplace are available at no charge. For other services, such as the availability of Hotspots and tablets, assistance via the AT Lease program or Device Loan is available.
Note: For low-income families, additional options for acquisition are available.
For these services and more, LATAN can assist with navigating or even, tailoring a program to meet individual needs as applicable to ensure access to technology.
Safety: As an accredited AT/DME provider, LATAN has PPE available and has been following OSHA, CDC, and Medicare guidelines for proper cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing all devices on display in our Demo Center, as well as those available for borrowing and on the AT Marketplace. For individuals and families who are uncomfortable with face to face visits, services may be conducted virtually, and "some" devices may be shipped by mail.
Contact us for additional information.