Breaking down barriers: The Pan Disability Connection helps employers hire more individuals with disabilities
It’s not just the sun beaming through windows bringing rays of sunshine to Enbridge’s main office in Edmonton these days. There’s also a team of employees, referred to as eZone concierges, helping make the days a little brighter—and tidier to boot.
“These are very busy spaces with lots of people in them all the time and we were very excited to have people organizing these areas and keeping them tidy,” says AnnaMaria LeMaistre, an advisor for diversity and inclusion at Enbridge and PDC employer partner.
But it’s about more than what these workers do. It’s how they do it—with enthusiasm and gratitude.
“They’re just so friendly and outgoing,” she says. “They really do brighten up your day.”
They’re great employee indeed—but it’s also who they are that is equally remarkable.
All the eZone concierges are living with intellectual disabilities, and through their hard work, dedication and winning attitude, they are in their own way helping make workplaces more inclusive, diverse and, frankly, better.
“Through the process of developing a position for them, we got to understand what is needed to support individuals with disabilities,” says LeMaistre, adding the idea to create the positions stemmed from a suggestion from an employee, a member of the Rotary Club.
To LeMaistre’s and other Enbridge employees’ surprise, these individuals required “far fewer supports” than anticipated.
This experience led to Enbridge jumping aboard a new initiative in Edmonton to boost employment among Albertans with disabilities. Called The Pan Disability Connection—or PDC for short—it was launched a little over two years ago with the aim of bringing together employers, agencies supporting disabled individuals seeking employment and disabled individuals themselves.
“The initiative in many ways really developed from the employers themselves,” says Shauna McCallum, manager of social innovation and enterprise at Chrysalis, an organization supporting citizens with disabilities and PDC partnership broker.
Helping make employers, individuals with disabilities and the non-profits supporting them connect more easily accurately sums up the organization’s key strategic goal, McCallum adds.
“We have many different agencies in Edmonton reaching out to employers and that can be confusing for employers.”
That’s where PDC aims to help--a single point of contact resource for employers seeking to hire people with disabilities.
Indeed the three major employers--Enbridge, Stantec and DynaLIFE Medical Labs--that sit on PDC’s steering committee can attest to the challenges.
“A lot of it boils down to ‘what organization do you reach out to?’” says Richelle Serink, internal engagement coordinator at Stantec, a leading engineering firm in Canada, and a PDC employer partner.
“There are just so many different organizations in Edmonton helping people with disabilities find employment.”
Moreover each organization often has a specific area of expertise serving a particular group of individuals with disabilities.
“But with PDC, we can create one connection to multiple organizations, so you can do just one reach-out and say ‘This is the kind of job I have right now, who could fill this position?’” Serink says. “And then the organizations have the resources to recommend people who might be a good fit for the job.”
Yet it’s not just a matter of helping employers and people with disabilities connect. PDC is also a champion for changing perceptions about hiring people with disabilities.
The commonly heard mantra is to see the ability, not the disability. But it’s more than that.
“It’s about seeing opportunity,” says Renate Burwash, director of employment Gateway Association, which helps Edmontonians with disabilities find meaningful work, and a PDC agency partner.
“There are a lot of preconceived notions about hiring people with disabilities, but what people don’t realize is they have a lot to bring to a workplace that’s positive.”
In this respect a lot of employers are likely missing out on good things, Statistic Canada figures indicate.
For instance, roughly one in two adults with disabilities is employed in Canada compared with about eight in 10 people without a disability. And their lower employment rate is likely a result of their disability, given that about one in ten Canadians with a disability has been refused a job because of his or her disability. And that figure rises to about one in three for individuals, ages 25 to 34, with a severe disability.
“Hearing their stories can break your heart a little bit about how difficult it has been to find work and the ways they were treated badly in past workplaces,” LeMaistre says.
PDC members hope to make those difficulties distant history someday soon by promoting better and more widespread inclusion practices in the workplace, says Jamie Lynn Heintz, human resource business partner at DynaLIFE, which employs 1,200 people—including workers with disabilities.
“That’s a big reason we feel so honored to be a part of this effort to remove stigmas diminishing people with disabilities chances to find meaningful work.”
Of course many employers are already making strides to build inclusiveness. But overcoming inertia—often driven by a perception that hiring initiatives require tremendous effort and time—is a challenge unto itself.
To address this, The PDC will be developing materials to guide employers through the process.
Stantec, Enbridge and DynaLIFE are also stepping up as mentors.
“So if a company is thinking about hiring an individual with disability, they can call us,” Heintz says.
Employers can learn from them about strategies like “job carving,” Serink says.
“For example we had about five different administrative assistants at Stantec with various different tasks, and some of those take up a lot of their time, but it doesn’t take a specific person to do those.”
So the company took those little jobs—like picking up packages from the mail room— and created new positions for individuals with a disability to perform these tasks.
To find candidates, DynaLIFE works with agencies such as Employ Abilities and On-Site Placement, which connect individuals with disabilities with employers.
The benefits are many, Heintz adds. Chiefly individuals with disabilities find steady and meaningful work.
“And they also make those other people more productive in their jobs,” Serink says.
“Ultimately it’s a win for everyone.”