by The Job Accommodation Network, better known as JAN, just published their employer survey report. The report “Accommodation and Compliance: Low Cost, High Impact” includes information from 3,528 employer surveys completed between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2022. Employers reported that the benefits from workplace accommodations for individuals with disabilities outweighed the costs. Key reported benefits include:
- Retaining valuable employees,
- Improving productivity and morale,
- Reducing workers’ compensation and training costs, and
- Improving company diversity.
In addition to these direct benefits from providing effective accommodations, employers reported indirect workplace benefits such as improved interactions between co-workers, increased worker safety, and increased employee attendance.
Approximately 20 percent of employers responding to the survey provided information about the cost of accommodations. Half of those employers responding reported that the accommodations they made cost nothing to implement. Another 40 percent reported a one-time cost for accommodations.
The Americans with Disabilities Act and many state nondiscrimination laws require that employers provide reasonable job accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities. Determining an effective accommodation often requires an interactive process between the worker and the employer to identify viable options. JAN is a government-funded resource to help with this process.
It is a free source of expert and confidential guidance, providing online resources to help employers and workers discover effective accommodations. It also offers one-on-one practical advice and technical assistance in evaluating accommodations.
The JAN survey report can be found at https://askjan.org/topics/costs.cfm.
For more information on JAN and how it can assist in the interactive accommodation process, see their FAQs: https://askjan.org/Frequently-Asked-Questions.cfm.
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