Today, I met with a representative of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME). Our Director of Human Resources, General Manager of Economic Development and Lloyd Longfield from the Chamber of Commerce were also present.
She wanted to introduce our community to a program to encourage employers to take action on hiring persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities represent a value-added, untapped labour pool of qualified talent. The CME is encouraging businesses to be a leader in diversity and innovative hiring practices. They offer businesses resources and support to make a difference. Their goal is for 10% of new hires to be persons with disabilities by the year 2020.
They dispel 10 myths about hiring persons with disabilities in their resource material:
- Providing access accommodation is difficult and expensive
- People with disabilities do not work well and take more sick days
- You can’t hire or fire a person with a disability
- You have to be careful when you’re talking to a person with a disability because they are easily offended if you use the wrong word
- People with disabilities are brave and courageous
- An employer’s worker compensation rates rise when they hire individuals with disabilities
- A person with a disability will be a health and safety hazard on the job
- Employment equity means lowering job standards
- Workplace equality should be left up to market forces; there is no need to intervene
- Someone will always have to help them
More can be found on the campaign at www.ten20action.ca
Filed under: Jobs & the Economy
That’s great news- I hope that Guelph will participate in this. Two of my children will be workers with disabilities, and one of the reasons that we moved back to Guelph is because Guelph does have some great supports for adult autistics. It would be wonderful to see that trend continue- my kids are certainly able to give back to the community with the proper supports.
Thanks for meeting with them!
Jen