Accommodating Your Employees with Disabilities
Employers accommodate workers — with and without disabilities — every day, by providing a work
environment that is comfortable, safe, and conducive to productivity. For a person with a disability, be it
a chronic condition or the result of illness or injury, job accommodations can make the difference
between being able to work and relying on disability benefits. For the employer, the cost of keeping that
person at work tends to be in many cases insignificant: approximately 46% of accommodations cost
absolutely nothing, and 45% have a one-time cost, typically around $500.
Accommodations result in multiple benefits to the employer, including retention of a qualified
employee, increase in worker productivity, and the elimination of training costs for new employees.
Three Ways to Accommodate Your Employees
1. Open dialogue. Know that not all people with disabilities need accommodations to do their
jobs. However, as you would with any employee, do maintain an open dialogue to make sure
that your employees with disabilities are getting what they need to perform the essential
functions of the job.
2. Inclusive emergency evacuation plans. To create a safer workplace for everyone, include your
employees with disabilities in the planning process for your company’s emergency evacuation
procedures. Be sure that there’s a strategy for communicating that plan to all employees, and
appoint a network of people to help during an actual evacuation.
3. Ready access to resources. Make sure that managers have ready access to information and
resources about providing reasonable accommodations and fostering an inclusive environment.
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) (www.askjan.org) is one such resource that contains a
comprehensive database on accommodations such as ergonomic tools, flexible schedules, and
captioned training videos.
For more information, visit: www.workwithoutlimits.org/employers