W. Roy Grizzard, Ed.D. - Keynote Remarks Delivered at the Diversity Profit Generation Series

Luncheon Keynote Address

 W. Roy Grizzard, Ed. D.
Assistant Secretary
U. S. Department of Labor

 Diversity Profit Generation Series:
Proving the Financial Business Case for Diversity

 New York , NY
June 20, 2006

Thank you for that kind introduction, and for inviting me to participate in this program.  Before I begin my remarks, I I want to commend Adecco for your commitment to diversity – and especially for recognizing that diversity includes people with disabilities.

I know that Adecco has a worldwide reach and am impressed that the business philosophy and values the company instills in its 33,000-member workforce include people with disabilities.  You have the ability to increase and enhance employment for people with disabilities in some 70 countries because of this corporate commitment.

But, today, I would like to focus on the United States.  While I'm sure that many of you in the audience represent companies that have an international reach, we really do need to make sure that our diversity outreach and inclusion starts right here – at home.

About ODEP

First, let me tell you a little about my agency, the Office of Disability Employment Policy, or ODEP, as we call it.  We are the newest agency in the U.S. Department of Labor, established in 2001. We're a small agency with a BIG mission. 

Our mission is to provide national leadership by developing and influencing disability-related employment policy as well as practices affecting the employment of people with disabilities.

Our vision is "A world in which people with disabilities have unlimited employment opportunities."

People with disabilities have disproportionately high unemployment rates as compared to non-disabled individuals.  Far too many people with disabilities are not in the workforce – and not because they do not want to work or don't have the skills to work.

For ODEP to make a difference, we know that we need to work in cooperation with a variety of partners -- service providers, educators, the workforce development system, to name just a few.

ODEP'S Employer Focus

But, of critical importance is our work with employers.  It really doesn't matter how many individuals are ready to work. There must be a demand for that supply.

Still, despite a shrinking labor pool, too often there isn't.  But, let me tell you, there should be! 

Not because a company wants to feel good, or because a company is concerned about compliance – but because a company wants to hire the very best person for the job, the individual who can and will contribute to the bottom line!

And, isn't this what this workshop is all about?  Leveraging diversity for corporate profit. Regardless of your product or your service, you have to be concerned about the bottom line and what impact your workforce has on it or you will go out of business.

Business Case

And how do people with disabilities contribute to the bottom line? By

•  having the skills and qualifications that make your business run
•  having a strong work ethic, and
•  doing it all with minimal, cost-effective accommodations, if necessary

These are all things that we've heard are your greatest challenges.

In the last few years ODEP has done considerable research on employers, their business needs, their views, and the perceived impediments to hiring people with disabilities. 

Our Employer Assistance & Recruiting Network (EARN) conducted 26 focus groups with executives and human resources professionals across an array of industries.  

We learned that the most prevalent employer concerns were the following: 

We know that there are significant challenges ahead.  Businesses must find ways to meet the challenges of an aging, shrinking labor force.

According to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, by the year 2014 – that's only eight years away – 36 million people are expected to leave their jobs and will need to be replaced.  Another source tells us that between 2010 and 2030 the workforce will shrink by 10 percent.

We believe employers can meet such challenges by hiring people with disabilities.  Right now businesses have the opportunity to tap into a young and growing talent pool.

There are more educated and better prepared workers with disabilities than ever before.  Do you know that nearly 10 percent of all undergraduates, or approximately 1.53 million students, report having one or more disabilities?

ODEP's employer research produced findings that support a strong business case for the employment of people with disabilities. 

This business case demonstrates that investing in workers with disabilities is indeed a sound investment. 

Employers' top concern is finding qualified employees.  

When employers learn that more and more young people with disabilities are graduating from high school and college, and that people who experience a disability have creative problem solving skills, employers recognize that many candidates with disabilities do have the talents, skills, and experiences for which they are recruiting.

  Employers are concerned with performance and retention.

When employers learn that workers with disabilities have comparable performance and retention ratings to those of employees without disabilities, they see that hiring, retaining, and promoting people with disabilities positively impacts their bottom line. 

Employers say job accommodations are costly.  

When employers hear that almost half of the accommodations that are needed actually cost nothing, and those accommodations that do have a cost typically cost $600, then they see that they can make accommodations easily and cost effectively as well.

New Freedom Initiative Awardees

And there are some tremendous examples of employers who are doing this. We recognize them annually with the Secretary of Labor's New Freedom Initiative Award.

To date she has presented the Department's New Freedom Initiative Award to 13 businesses.

I encourage you to talk with these business winners, all featured on ODEP's website (www.dol.gov/odep)  about their diversity practices and how those practices contribute to the bottom line.

Circle of Champions

We call these outstanding businesses our Circle of Champions. Recently, ODEP hosted a first meeting of this group to exchange information.  We learned about their experiences, which strategies work and which don't.  And, we were struck by their commitment to collaborate on new and innovative strategies to help ODEP expand its reach, and strengthen its impact in order to achieve our vision.

Adecco, who as a leader in hiring people with disabilities, was invited as a guest participant.

The keynote for the meeting was delivered by Susan Meisinger, President and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management.  Many of you, I'm sure are members of this organization.

I'd like to quote Sue's key message directly.  She said,

" We are entering a 'perfect storm,' where employment is up, the economy is strong and workers are migrating into retirement. This is a 'perfect opportunity' for people with disabilities"

Participants at the meeting agreed.  We are involved in a war for talent.

Susan Meisinger suggested that companies should ask themselves:
     "Can we afford to ignore this market?" 
     "How hard are we looking for employees with disabilities?" 
If companies don't do business with the disability market, their competitors will, she pointed out.

Participants also agreed that we need to create a culture of flexibility.

I'd like to share with you a few key best practices these employers endorsed.  Sharing these best practices is key to equipping businesses with information they need to ensure the successful incorporation of people with disabilities into the workplace.

• Make the commitment to employees with disabilities intrinsic to a company's culture.
  • Provide awareness and sensitivity training materials.
  • Increase visibility through awards programs, internship programs, mentoring, and other activities.
  • Example:  Booz Allen Hamilton has an Emerging Leaders Program , in which they place top college students with disabilities in highly selective positions.

• Develop a system for measuring progress/success, and hold the company accountable.
  • Example:  One company makes recruiting, hiring, training and retaining employees with disabilities part of the managers' evaluation criteria.

• Offer flexible and adaptable work practices.
  • Rather than worrying about making workplace accommodations, think about these adaptatations as "productivity tools."
  • Example:  CVS was able to return a valued employee back to work, after he had a stroke, by giving him a flexible work schedule.
  • Example:  Hewlett Packard uses assistive technologies at meetings, including a service that offers real-time captioning.

• Share best practices with other companies.
  • MBNA shared its model with other companies and gave them a tour of their operations.  Three of the five companies are now starting their own disability employment initiatives.

• Establish partnership to increase access to information and resources.
  • This is especially important for small and mid-sized businesses that may not have access to as many resources as larger companies.

• Build active relationships with disability employment groups, who can offer information and resources.
  • Example:  Giant Eagle, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based grocery chain, connects with community organizations in order to identify students with disabilities to mentor, and has hired hundreds of employees with disabilities, ranging from lot attendant to human resource manager.
  • Example:  ODEP provides two important – and cost-free - resources:
    • Employer Assistance & Recruiting Network (EARN)  (www.earnworks.com), which can assist you in locating qualified job candidates with disabilities, as well as answer questions related to disability and the workforce.
    • Job Accommodation Network (JAN) (www.jan.wvu.edu), which can work with you one-on-one to help you make workplace accommodations for employees with disabilities, as well as assist you in understanding the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

These are your peers talking.  These are tried and tested practices.  These demonstrate that it can be done and done well.

Clearly, the companies in the Circle of Champions share ODEP's vision – a world in which people with disabilities have unlimited employment opportunities.

If your company also shares that vision, I invite you to apply for the Secretary of Labor's New Freedom Initiative Award.  Although this year's deadline has passed, the information is on ODEP's web site (www.dol.gov/odep), and it can inform you about the criteria for future awards. This award is given annually.

Conclusion

In closing, to those of you whose corporate diversity strategies include people with disabilities, I commend you.

To those of you whom this conference has motivated to develop new and improved diversity strategies that include people with disabilities, I encourage you to move swiftly.  As with any employee, the best candidates with disabilities will be in high demand – and you want to be the first to hire, train and promote these folks. 

For those of you in technical fields, that employee with a disability could be the next Bill Gates.  For those of you in medical fields, that researcher with a disability could be the next Nobel Prize winner in medicine.  For those of you in the publishing industry, that employee may be the next Pulitzer Prize winner.

All of your employees with disabilities won't make it to the top of the field.  But, I can assure you of one thing:  All will deliver a full day's work for a full-day's pay.  All will help contribute to your bottom line.

If you haven't already, I invite you to profit from the experience of people with disabilities.

Thank you for your kind attention.