Incorporate Reasonable Accommodation Practices into your Onboarding Process

by Ann Hirsh, Job Accommodations Network, Volume 10, Issue 2, Second Quarter, 2012

Spring is in full swing and there are signs indicating an upcoming increase in the hiring of people with disabilities in both the Federal and private sectors. With Federal Executive Order 13548 – Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities and the potential changes for Federal contractors in the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, employers would be wise to review their onboarding processes.

The purpose of an onboarding process is to smoothly integrate new employees into their positions and company culture. If you already have an onboarding process, does your process consider reasonable accommodation issues for your new employees who may happen to have a disability? It should. Take a look at your process and see if you need to incorporate the following reasonable accommodation considerations.