A2X Consulting

If you’ve been reluctant to include disabled workers in your business or company, it can be for a variety of reasons. You might be concerned with having to make accommodations to your office or building, or you might be concerned with capability and workflow in the office. Whatever the case may be, many employers are ambivalent when it comes to deciding to hire workers with disabilities, but the truth of the matter is, that in most cases it can be incredibly beneficial. This might come as a surprise, but we’ll talk about a few of the main benefits of hiring workers with disabilities and why it absolutely might not be such a bad idea, after all.

For one thing, there are tax benefits. Everybody loves tax benefits, and by hiring workers with disabilities, you’re actually opening yourself up to a pretty good and solid amount of tax benefits that you might not have been able to take advantage of before. For example, if you were to hire a disabled worker, this could very well require that you make some serious adjustments to your company’s location or office building. If you’ve done this as a result of hiring a disabled worker, then the physical adjustments you’ve had to make to your company’s property can be considered deductible. Even further is that the IRS might very well offer you a variety of tax credits for hiring on disabled workers. What’s known as a disabled access credit can be granted to a business who’s had to adjust their property in the ways we just discussed, and a work opportunity credit is often offered to those who employ individuals with special needs. While these might seem self-serving, the truth is that the IRS is rewarding you for being include in your employment.

Money isn’t everything, however, and you might feel a little bashful once you realize that you’re potentially limiting your talent pool in a serious way if you’re not willing to consider individuals with disabilities or special needs. Why not open up your talent pool and consider any and every candidate that presents himself or herself. You can seriously broaden your options in terms of your workforce by including disabled individuals in your talent pool.

Along these same lines is the fact that hiring on disabled workers does great things for your image. It makes it clear to the general public that you’re interested in treating every member of society equally, and this is a great way for a company or business to represent itself. Furthermore, you can preemptively protect your business from discrimination lawsuits or ever appearing to be less-than-receptive to individuals with disabilities.

Whatever your choice may be, there are clear benefits to hiring workers with disabilities. Not only does it simply feel good to treat everyone equally, but it improves your company’s standing with the IRS and the general public in a number of useful ways. Whether you have to make ramps to accommodate adult walkers or install special handrails, going out of your way to welcome workers with special needs is always a good decision.