The last time we checked in on employment opportunities for people with disabilities in Asia, we found a Chinese entrepreneur named Li Ping touting his success in reducing employee turnover at nearly two dozen Papa John’s franchises in Shanghai. The key component to boosting his profitability: a mindful approach to training people with disabilities that instilled loyalty in his workers.
Other companies are clearly following Li Ping’s example, as evidenced by the Asia News Network article, “46 companies lauded for hiring disabled workers.” Correspondent Leslie Kay Lim outlined some of the strategies and results that earned these organizations accolades at the second annual Enabling Employers Network Awards held in Singapore at the end of March.
Food service organizations like Li Ping’s seem to be at the forefront of both finding ways to best utilize the strengths of an employee and give all workers the skills necessary to be part of in an inclusive workplace. These organizations view working with consultants and experts who provide career training for people with disabilities as an investment, not a cost burden. The KFC chain, for example, provides sign language classes for all its staff members, resulting in the successful hiring of 300 employees with hearing impairments.
But the mindful approach is best demonstrated by Fong Shen, who owns a mould and precision engineering company where 15% of the workforce is comprised of people with disabilities. Five years ago, questions about productivity left the company reluctant to hire people with disabilities. But now, as Lim writes:
Fong Shen’s approach is to observe the disabled worker at the workplace in the first two weeks, and then rework the job scope accordingly. ‘In today’s economy, everyone wants to be best at the job tomorrow,’ he noted, highlighting the fact that spending a little more time on training and placement makes a significant difference.
The “everyone” Fong Shen refers to includes people with disabilities, who too often are characterized as uninterested in improving themselves. The fact of the matter is that workers with disabilities take as much pride as anyone in doing a job well and advancing in their careers. Whether it’s working in an office, a retail shop, or a warehouse, guidance from programs like ATI’s StarWorks makes life matter more for these people.
Fortunately, more and more communities in the U.S. are figuring this out. In the Chicago suburb of Homer Glen, a man named Ed Kerfin is taking his years of experience as a caregiver for people with disabilities and starting a new business that trains and finds work for these people as commercial cleaners.
Reporter Lisa Gunggoll interviews Kerfin for the Chicago Tribune’s Triblocal.com community website. He tells her:
In reality, [people with disabilities] want to have someone take the time to train them and provide an opportunity for them to help themselves and others… [O]ur motto is ‘We believe in a hand up, not a hand out.’
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Image by Commercial Cleaning Maryland (Sean Mulgrew), used under its Creative Commons license.
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