Employers with a diverse workforce benefit from a range of cultural backgrounds and lived experiences. The unique perspectives of their employees help strengthen the organization by introducing more robust creative and problem-solving processes, more nuanced decision-making, increased employee engagement, and higher retention rates.
As more employers recognize the positive impacts of a diverse workforce, a new enterprise, NSITE, is poised to become their go-to resource. Through talent development, job placement services, and accessibility support, NSITE connects organizations seeking to broaden their talent pool with qualified job seekers who are blind, visually impaired, and/or veterans.
Launched under the umbrella of National Industries for the Blind (NIB), a leader in supporting the employment of people who are blind for more than 80 years, NSITE “leverages NIB’s knowledge and experience to provide tremendous value to employers and job seekers alike,” explains NIB President and CEO Kevin Lynch.
Employers that partner with NSITE have everything they need to find, hire, onboard, and retain talented people who are blind or visually impaired as an essential part of their workforce. NSITE helps employers recruit and support employees with disabilities, so organizations can focus on putting their skills and talent to good use.
“Including talented people who are blind or visually impaired as part of a diverse workforce leads to a more productive, innovative workplace,” said Jonathan Lucus, head of NSITE. “Employers know diverse hiring is important, but they don’t always know how to do it well, let alone where to find the talent. NSITE is a people-first organization that helps our partners build a diverse workforce with dedicated employees, helping them increase productivity and strengthen workplace culture.”
Employers across all industries struggle to recruit, retain, and support diverse talent, all while facing record high turnover rates, sometimes upwards of 60 percent. Meanwhile, myths and misconceptions about the capabilities of people who are blind or visually impaired keep unemployment rates high for this largely untapped workforce – according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey, nearly 70 percent of working-age Americans who are blind are not employed.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion should no longer be considered just the right thing to do, but also as the key puzzle piece for an organization’s success, as several studies have demonstrated,” said Dr. Afra Ahmad, director of the Master of Professional Studies in Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology program at George Mason University. “Companies with a wider pool of talent and an inclusive culture can reap the rewards of authentic employees sharing broader perspectives, which can lead to greater innovation and better decision making for products and services.”