OCTOBER IS NATIONAL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AWARENESS
Month. Congress chose October for the annual observance in 1988 to
bring attention to the employment needs of people with all types of
disabilities.
Many would be surprised at just how difficult it is for the disabled to
find work. The Labor Department’s Office of Disability Employment
Policy releases statistics each month on how many disabled people are
employed compared with people without disabilities. In August, for
example, the unemployment rate for people without disabilities was 4. 8
percent, while the rate for those with disabilities was more than double
that, at 11. 3 percent.
Many would say that such a high unemployment rate for the disabled
is understandable, reasoning that job performance
concerns might deter those with disabilities from
seeking work. Yet according to Cornell University’s
Disability Statistics website ( disabilitystatistics.org),
that is not the case. It states that in 2014, “an estimated
9. 2 percent of non-institutionalized persons aged 21 to
64 years with a disability in the United States who were
not working, were actively looking for work.”
So, we have a group of people who are willing to
work but can’t find jobs. At the same time, we have
warehouses and DCs that are in need of skilled work-
ers. I think I see a match here.
A couple of years ago, I visited a Walgreens DC in
Anderson, S.C., to shoot two segments for our Move
It! video program. Walgreens has long had an inclusion program, and at the time of my visit, more than 40 percent of the
workers in Anderson had mental or physical disabilities.
This facility was designed with a few modifications to enable the disabled to work side by side with their able-bodied colleagues. Most are
aimed at helping people with cognitive disabilities adapt to the operations. For example, instead of naming pick zones by long strings of
numbers, Walgreens named them after animals, vegetables, and snack
foods to help workers find stock locations more easily. I have to admit,
it is a lot more fun going to the cheeseburger zone than to aisle 7, rack 4.
It is not difficult to adapt facilities to meet the needs of the disabled. And while this is good social policy, it is also good for business.
Walgreens quickly found Anderson to be its most productive DC. The
employees there are more dependable than the typical DC worker, and
turnover has proved to be half that of other Walgreens facilities.
In a time when it is difficult to find good workers for our DCs, don’t
exclude what might possibly be your most productive work force.
For information on hiring persons with disabilities, visit the Office of
Disability Employment Policy website: www.dol.gov/odep.
bigpicture
Chief Editor
David Maloney
Chief Editor
dmaloney@dcvelocity.com
Karen Bachrach
Executive Editor - Features
karen@dcvelocity.com
Mark Solomon
Executive Editor - News
mark@dcvelocity.com
Martha Spizziri
Managing Editor - Digital
martha@dcvelocity.com
Ben Ames
Senior Editor
ben@dcvelocity.com
Toby Gooley
Senior Editor
tgooley@dcvelocity.com
Susan Lacefield
Editor at Large
slacefield@dcvelocity.com
Steve Geary
Editor at Large
sgeary@dcvelocity.com
Diane Rand
Associate Editor–Digital
diane@dcvelocity.com
Erica E. Mac Donald
Assistant Editor
Keisha Capitola
Director of Creative Services
keisha@dcvelocity.com
Jeff Thacker
Director of eMedia
jeff@dcvelocity.com
Columnists:
Clifford F. Lynch
Art van Bodegraven
Gary Master
Publisher
gmaster@dcvelocity.com
Mitch Mac Donald
Group Editorial Director
mitch@dcvelocity.com
Peter Bradley
Editorial Director
peter@dcvelocity.com
Jim Indelicato
Group Publisher
jindelicato@dcvelocity.com
EDITORIAL OFFICE
Tower Square, Number 4
500 East Washington Street
North Attleboro, MA 02760
Subscribe at
www.dcvelocity.com
or call (630) 739-0900
A PUBLICATION OF
