Remember Lauren Woolstencroft from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympic Games? She won five gold medals in skiing. Now there is a person with determination and the drive to succeed, qualities you would want in any new employee, right?
Well, if you would consider hiring Woolstencroft (which is exactly what BC Hydro did), reflect further and consider hiring people with disabilities in general. There are many great candidates among them. The Hyatt Regency Vancouver understands how beneficial employees with disabilities can be to an organization, especially at a time of labour shortages. In fact, the hotel has been tapping successfully into this market for many years.
James Hanley has been with the Hyatt Regency Vancouver for nine years, and within that period he has been nominated several times as Employee of the Month, as well as one of the company’s Top Ten Employees of the Year a few years ago.
As the hotel's mini-bar porter, Hanley will visit 130 guestrooms over 34 floors during a typical shift ― and he holds a record of visiting 200 rooms in a single day.
As well as replenishing supplies, maintaining stock and attending to guest needs, Hanley easily manoeuvres a fully loaded cart through the hotel’s maze of elevators, corridors and doorways, and he has developed solid miming skills that enable him to communicate with guests who don't speak English. He also holds the highest seniority in his department.
Hanley is an exceptional employee with many duties and responsibilities, but many may be surprised to learn that he has cerebral palsy (CP). CP affects individuals in different ways, including fine motor control, speech and walking. Hanley describes his CP as "manageable," meaning he has mastered his challenges in the above categories.
The Hyatt has been successfully employing people with disabilities for years, and it continues to learn effective management skills that help benefit employees who have a wide range of abilities.
The Greater Vancouver Business Leadership Networks (GVBLN) is an employer-led coalition of business, government and community organizations dedicated to improving employment opportunities that benefit businesses and persons with disabilities. As a program of the BC Centre for Ability, it commits to furthering employment opportunities for those with disabilities. Mark Gruenheid, GVBLN’s client manager, connected James with the Hyatt in 2001.
Since that successful placement, the Hyatt has become a member of the GVBLN and has hired a number of people with disabilities. Cathy Martinsen, Hyatt's director of human resources, says the hotel is “very lucky to have such positive and hard-working individuals as part of [the] team.”
Currently, the Hyatt and the GVBLN are working together. Gruenheid and a colleague, Alan Yien, conducted a workshop for managers that is designed to break down perceptions of disabilities and open up discussion about what it means to be disabled, as well as to share information about hiring and working with the disabled.
“Many persons with disabilities make qualified and capable employees. However, as a group they tend to be overlooked,” says Gruenheid. “The main reasons centre around fear, misunderstanding and stereotyping.”
And the Hyatt has successfully strived to debunk those myths throughout its workplace. Martinsen says organizations like the GVBLN are important because they can help employees with disabilities integrate and succeed in the workplace. And getting in contact with these organizations is definitely beneficial to employers. “This helps employers become aware of these individuals’ capabilities and eliminates any fear or apprehensions about hiring and working alongside people with disabilities,” she says.
Gruenheid concurs, saying that “there is a myth that it costs a lot to incorporate them into the workforce. In almost all cases this is simply not true. It is wrong to classify persons with disabilities, as disabilities vary greatly in severity and scope, and each individual has a unique experience.”
Approximately 638,640 British Columbians have disabilities, and Gruenheid, who has been in this field for 16 years, believes that in light of the current and projected labour shortfalls, those with disabilities are an under-utilized resource. “Far too many working-aged persons with disabilities are unemployed or underemployed,” he says.
Martinsen advises anyone interested in hiring persons with disabilities to simply go for it. “You just can’t help but admire these individuals’ determination to succeed and make a difference in the workplace,” she says. “The most rewarding [aspect] is to see how happy and proud they are of their accomplishments.”
The BC Ministry of Housing and Social Development launched its Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities in July 2007, offering services to help British Columbians with disabilities participate in the workforce. For more information, click here.
