RNIB urges companies to accommodate newly-disabled workers
Employment Law & HR update 13/10/2011
Efforts made to keep a newly disabled person in employment can
give employers a cost benefit of two-and-a-half times their
investment, according to an new report from the Royal National
Institute for the Blind (RNIB).
Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions have indicated
that 92 per cent of people who left their jobs because they had
become disabled felt that they could have stayed in their
positions, if they had had the correct interventions. The RNIB
report indicates that more companies should make efforts to make
these interventions, as there are many benefits for doing so.
John Taylor, from industrial relations body, ACAS - who wrote
the foreword to the book - said that an employee's accumulated
skills will almost certainly justify the effort needed to adapt to
be able to accommodate their disability.
"As well as helping to build a stronger relationship between
employer and employee there are strong business reasons for doing
so," he said. "This report makes the case convincingly, setting out
the costs and the potential savings that can be realised by a
policy of vocational rehabilitation."
The report said that the benefits begin with maintaining the
employee's long-term skills at the company, but also allows
businesses to avoid costs associated with redundancy and long-term
sick leave, while also maintaining morale among staff and
increasing its community.
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