In the April 2006 issue of this newsletter, I compiled a
list of ten Characteristics of Small Business – as they
influenced employment opportunities for people with
disabilities. At the time, I knew that I would eventually
need to do an article on “big” business, but I had put that
notion on the shelf for a while. In recent days, I received
a phone call from someone that prompted me to devote this
issue to that topic.
Here are eight Characteristics of large companies that I
believe can be influential in their employment of people
with disabilities and can be useful considerations for job
seekers with disabilities and/or job developers:
1. A Multitude of Entry Points
When discussing job search strategies, one of my favorite
lines is “One employee does not a company make.” I have
talked to so many job seekers who say “Well, I applied at
XYZ Corporation but never heard back from them.” I usually
ask “how many people did you talk to?” Too frequently the
answer is “One” – to which I respond; “Well, there are
10,000 employees at XYZ Corporation – that leaves you with
9,999 more opportunities!”
Employee referral is a favored mode of recruiting for
many companies. They often give special attention to job
seekers that are recommended by existing employees. In fact,
especially in times of labor shortages, many large companies
have been known to give cash bonuses to employees who make
referrals that become hires. If a job seeker is seeking
employment with a particular company, making a solid
connection with an existing employee is an important tactic
– and the more employees that a company has, the more
opportunity there is to make that one important connection.
2. Deep Pockets
Typically big companies have big budgets. This is a
particularly important consideration for job seekers with
expensive accommodation needs. Many of them won’t even blink
at accommodation costs below $5000 – and will readily take
more expensive accommodations in stride. In fact, many large
companies have centralized budgets for job accommodations –
so these costs are not an issue in hiring decisions for
individual departments. For job seekers with high
accommodation needs, it might be a good reason to focus
their job search on larger companies.
3. Decision-Making Layers
In larger companies, individual jobs tend to become more
and more specialized which also tends to add more people to
the decision-making processes. A small business owner, in
addition to being the Chief Chef and bottle washer, likely
recruits, interviews and hires his/her own employees. In a
larger company, there are likely to different people in
these various roles – a recruiter, someone who does
screening interviews and a hiring manager. It is typically
true that the larger the company, the more people who are
likely to be involved in the hiring process. A job seeker
with a disability may be welcomed by a progressive and
enthusiastic recruiter – only to be later turned down by the
bias and discomfort of a hiring manager. In larger
companies, applicants have to “sell” themselves multiple
times in order to get the job offer.
4. Fear Factor/Risk-taking
Some folks may take exception to this, and I offer it
only as a personal observation, a perspective that I have
developed over time, and one that I believe strongly
influences the ability of people with disabilities to secure
jobs in corporate settings. Within corporate settings, most
employees are held highly accountable for their performance
and actions. There isn’t a lot of job security any more and
there is not a lot of tolerance for poor performance or bad
decisions. Pay, promotions and tenure are all based on
performance evaluations.
Contrary to popularly-held notions, entrepreneurship and
risk-taking are not particularly valued traits in many
corporate cultures. When bad decisions are made, large
companies generally aren’t often very forgiving. When one
bad decision can end your career (or at least delay your
opportunities for advancement), there isn’t much incentive
to make anything but “safe” decisions. When, rightly or
wrongly, people with disabilities are still generally held
suspect about their ability to really perform well on the
job, it can take a lot of personal courage for someone in a
corporate culture to stick their neck out in order to
support an applicant with a disability. When, as a recruiter
or hiring manager, you are going to be held personally
accountable for the success or failure of a new hire, you
may be inclined not to “take a chance” on someone who
introduces new variables to the employment environment.
All this is to say that I believe that job seekers with
disabilities have a much greater “burden of proof” to bear
when approaching larger companies than they might with
smaller ones.
5. Legal Responsibilities
Large companies are particularly influenced by legislated
responsibilities around disability and employment. In the
United States, under the Americans with Disabilities Act,
large companies have had to align their policies, procedures
and environments to make it possible for people with
disabilities to equitably be considered for employment
opportunities. The influence of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission has also caused many companies to be
more proactive about their efforts to employ people with
disabilities – particularly if they want to secure and
maintain federal government contracts. Similarly, in Canada,
the Employment Equity Act has caused many of the country’s
largest employers to institute practices and initiatives
that will lead to greater participation of people with
disabilities within their workforces.
6. Job Specialization
In contrast to smaller companies, the duties and
responsibilities of corporate jobs tend to be more
specialized, more focused. This can be particularly
attractive to people with disabilities who have significant
accommodation needs – as environments and job tasks tend to
be much more routine and predicable.
7. Disability Sophistication
Larger companies have the resources to be well-informed
and responsible about their disability-related
responsibilities. While this knowledge and information may
not permeate the organization, there will be identifiable
people who are responsible (and typically well-informed) on
issues like accessibility of facilities, workplace
harassment, job accommodation policies, etc. There is likely
to be some form of disability-related training and/or
information that all employees have been given. Employees
with disabilities can be reasonably confident that they will
be treated with respect and have the tools and supports to
do their jobs well.
8. Good Places to Become Disabled
While I believe that it is generally more difficult for
someone with a significant disability to secure a position
within a large company than a smaller one, they can be great
places to be employed when someone becomes disabled. This is
particularly true for employees who have proven to be
valuable and well-liked within the organization. The wide
variety of jobs and the availability of accommodation funds
can make it much easier for employees to retain their
positions or to be reassigned to different jobs within the
same company.
***
Generally speaking, it can be more difficult for people
with disabilities to find employment within larger
companies. At the same time, these larger companies can be
better at accommodating and supporting employees who have
significant disabilities. These eight characteristics
obviously aren’t the whole story on large companies.
However, I do hope that they will offer some helpful insight
to some of our readers. I certainly invite helpful comments
on these, or additional characteristics of large companies,
that we can include in July’s newsletter.
~ Rob McInnes
© Rob McInnes, Diversity World, June, 2006
(If not used for commercial purposes, this article may be
reproduced, all or in part, providing it is credited to "Rob
McInnes, Diversity World - www.diversityworld.com". If
included in a newsletter or other publication, we would
appreciate receiving a copy.)
Read the April 2006 article: “Small Business: Boundless
Opportunities”... 
