Employees with disabilities encourage commitment and adaptability at Chemisphere Solutions
Travis Whenham is a very busy man.
As the president of cleaning compound manufacturing company Chemisphere Solutions in St. Albert, he values the commitment of his employees. This informs all of his experiences hiring people with disabilities, despite some of the negative assumptions some people make.
“Some of the stereotypical beliefs are that you hire a person with disability is that there is going to mean more work for everyone else on your staff. That’s a myth,” he says. “Maybe up front there’s going to be a little more work for the initial training period, but after that, once the person knows their role and knows their routine, they’re really reliable.”
Reliable employees who are ready to work hard deserve recognition and new challenges. Whenham is a full believer in encouraging all employees and rewarding them with new roles and additional responsibilities.
Chemisphere employee Chris Hamill, who has been with the company for eight years, runs his own department creating compounds that aid in sweeping. He is responsible for everything from mixing the compound to ordering raw materials to packaging the product and filling the order in the proper timeframe.
“Chris is one of the best employees I have, Whenham says.” He basically runs the show. It just goes to show if you let people persevere and give them the support and tools they need, they’ll blow you away.”
The benefits of hiring people with disabilities go beyond the individuals and have an impact on the entire team. Whenham sees how his employees with disabilities work to find the best ways of doing things with regards to their access needs, which in turn rubs off on the entire company.
“Coming here and seeing how adaptable our staff can be to overcome challenges and other situations is just unbelievable. I can attribute a lot of that to our employees with disabilities because they’ve got to work around and adapt the job to fit their abilities.”
Whenham says, he isn’t the only team member to be inspired by the way his employees with disabilities innovate to get the job done.
“Other team members see these successful and efficient ways of adapting and say ‘Okay, then there’s got to be a better way for me to work on my project or accomplish this task.’ They learn a lot from our employees with disabilities because they’re figuring it out. They’re making it happen.”
Asides from working hard, Whenham says it’s also important for everyone to bond outside of work and have some fun.
“We’re very inclusive. We have big Christmas parties, we do beers after work, we do an overnight summer barbecue. It’s never a question of if our employees with disabilities are coming; it’s how to make it possible and accessible. It’s in the company culture now.”
Ultimately, Chemisphere Solutions has created a kind of interdependence between abled employees and those with disabilities. Theirs is a community where work and social events are made accessible to everyone, all team members contribute to the company’s emphasis on learning and adaptability, and ultimately everyone is committed, not only to work, but to diverse ways of working.