Getting Started
Hiring a Person with a Developmental Disability
The goal of Trillium Employment Services is to create meaningful employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities by working with businesses and the broader community.
As an employer, you may be wondering if you should give this a try. Perhaps you have a lot of questions, a few concerns, and are not sure where to begin. Hopefully, these FAQ’s can help. Employers who are not in a position to hire can still contribute by generating other business
contacts or providing “job shadow” experiences.
What is a developmental disability?
This term is used to describe people with a cognitive disability and need assistance to carry out the practical and social activities of daily living. It is a term that is used to describe a wide range of individuals with unique skills and abilities. Developmental disabilities include: Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Autism.
What should I expect from an employee with a developmental disability?
Like anyone else, people with developmental disabilities have strengths and weaknesses, talents and abilities. These talents could include experience and interest in your line of work and soft skills you find beneficial to your workplace such as customer service skills, team-work, and strong motivation for work. There may be someone in your community today with a developmental disability who has some or all the specific skills you are looking for to enhance your business.
I can’t offer a full-time job. Does that mean I can’t hire someone?
Not at all. Many people with developmental disabilities are interested in working part-time. In fact, part-time employment may be the best way for an employee to learn and master the skills needed for your business.
What about accommodating special needs?
If you think about it, you are accommodating the individual needs of employees all the time. This may range from providing hand rests for staff using computers, flex time programs, task lists, to simply helping a co-worker with physical tasks that they are not strong enough to do. Most of the time, making accommodations for someone is simple and does not cost your business anything at all. If necessary, there are grants available for workplace modifications or assistive technologies. Ask us for more information.
Will I have support?
Absolutely! If you decide to hire someone with a developmental disability, a job coach is available to help you, or your staff train the person. As your new employee learns the skills needed for the job, the job coach slowly fades, and begins the process of checking-in on the employee. Our staff is available if additional support is needed or if you need help training your employee additional skills as time goes on.
What about liability?
As a responsible employer, you are already providing a healthy and safe workplace, and your business has Workers Compensation and general insurance coverage. Hiring someone with a developmental disability does not increase your liability. If there is a medical condition or anything else that could affect health and safety on the job, you need to know about it, just as you would with any other employee.
What about wages?
Employees with developmental disabilities earn minimum wage or above depending on the assigned job duties and the employer’s pay scale.
How will this benefit my business?
Many employers are finding it hard to find reliable, long term, entry-level employees. People with developmental disabilities are a labor source that is vastly underutilized by most industries and businesses. Many employers tell us that hiring someone with a developmental disability is not only great for the business community, but cost-effective toward their bottom line.