Achieving competitive advantage through the integration of disabled architects in architectural design firms in Egypt

Providing one centralized structure for the organization in order to facilitate workplace accommodation

Creating a strong relationship with the local community agencies to help in the recruitment of qualified disabled candidates, also in identifying the needed accommodations

Establishing practices and policies to minimize the recruitment and hiring discrimination processes

Establishing practices and policies to promote promotion and career advancement opportunities for disabled workers

Having adequately designed medical leave as well as other benefits for the employees in equitable manners

The involvement of internal organizational resource representatives and labor union representatives in the process of accommodation

Providing a disability nondiscrimination training program on their employment legislation and relevant civil rights

The policies and procedures that deal with disabled persons must be examined through a comprehensive plan, including disciplinary process procedures and performance appraisal

Determining the final decider on the accommodation and who is exactly involved in the decision process and what constitutes reasonable accommodation

Collecting the needed data about the prepared accommodation

Assessing the organizational resources and community in order to accommodate a specific employee

Establishing a debate process to deal with the accommodation’s appropriateness

Getting a cross-departmental strategy in place, which brings the HR department members together, such as employee relation specialists, benefits and safety specialists, occupational health, ergonomic specialists, labor representatives and disability managers, trying to apply their knowledge and expertise to accommodations of a particular disabled employee as needed

Disabled people should be treated equally accountable regarding the performance expectations as the rest of the employees who have the same job requirements

Reviewing the employee performance considering the available offered accommodation

Comparing the benefits of having disabled employees to the effort needed to accommodate them gives a better motivation for the employment process

The recruitment process in an organization is equitable; thus, it should be accessible to employees with communication and mobility impairments

Physical facilities that enable making an application should be accessible to employees with mobility impairments

Other employment materials should be available in a large range of variable formats, including Braille, audiocassettes, and large print

The office of the job application should be contacted by relay service, text, telephone or fax, so that each employee can use the most comfortable method of communication

The interviewing and application protocols are worded in a way that emphasizes the required abilities and skills, rather than health issues, disabilities, or resultant limitations

The orientations for new employees should be accessible for employees with communication or mobility impairments

Cooperating with aid organizations and rehabilitation agencies to provide an aid in impaired employees’ counseling, training, and identifying the appropriate job candidates

Employers must examine the practices and policies that concern the preemployment testing and screening, as well as the new employees’ orientation, in order to make sure that the organization must not screen out disabled applicants

Using more fair techniques in screening the impaired applicants’ forms respecting his/her impairment, taking it into consideration and dealing with it, without neglecting his/her experience or characteristics that are not related to his/her impairment

Putting the competitiveness that can be gained by employing a disabled person aside is not a fair evaluation to his/her integration, unless his/her impairment is also ignored

Dealing with the impaired applicant as an opportunity must be considered in parallel with dealing with him/her as a burden

The promotion opportunities and career advancement are equitably applied to employees with impairments

Communication about the promotions should be available in an accessible format to employees with impairment concerning communication

The external career and training opportunities advancement afforded to the employees should be accessible through being held in a physically accessible facility and by showing the needed relevant support for the impaired employees

Studying the barriers of employment for every impaired person according to his/her impairment, capability, characteristics, the surrounding environment, and the resources, which gives a deeper understanding for dealing with the employee and his/her impairment

The employee promotion should only be based on his/her performance in the workplace after providing him/her with all his/her needs

The disabled employee can be the companies’ icon of diversity, which can be positioned where it belongs in the companies’ structure

Promoting an impaired employee can be a method of acquiring competitiveness not only through diversity but also through improved image

The health benefit plans provided to the employees should be equitably available to the impaired employees

Work-related or employer-provided social activities and recreational facilities should be accessible for employees who deal with cognitive, communication or mobility impairments

Providing the employees with life, disability, and health benefits

Giving the employees with impairment special privilege for taking breaks, having fixed working hours and vacations according to their health conditions and the hours they need for rest, taking into consideration that if it does not suit the employees’ position, the position may need to be modified

Giving the employee tasks that he/she has the ability to perform better respecting his/her impairment; e.g., if the employee is paralyzed or uses cranes, it is not preferable to spend most of the working hours on the construction site

Return-to-work or disability management should focus on early intervention in illness situations or disability to help in maintaining the employee in the workforce or returning him/her in a timely way to work. The methods in which management deals with the prevention of disability or injury, as well as dealing with return to work or disability management situations, have a significant impact on the well-being and health of the workers.

The related factors should include corporate culture, worker and management safety, and the prevention techniques, as well as the disability management and the company policies

The disability management program should support the process of accommodation that eventually helps in minimizing workplace disability discrimination

Recognizing the importance of the confidentiality of medical information, increasing the supervisors’ awareness of the process of accommodation, raising acceptance for disabled people in workplace, and creating an accommodative organizational structure

Training is considered a significant contribution to the effective implementation of policies and practices in the work-place, as well as the implementation of nondiscrimination for disabled in the workplace

The organization should articulate its commitment to the equitable employment and recruiting of disabled persons, starting from the top level of management.

Training for creating a zero-discrimination environment toward the disabled

Supervisory training, including information about disability civil rights legislation requirements

Supervisory training, including information about preparing the general accommodations for disabled including mobility and communication, as well as preparing individuals’ accommodation for a specific disability that may need a particular occupational setting

Training should also be provided for all supervisors on how to be able to maximize the use of both community resources and internal organizational resources in supporting the disabled

Trainings should be provided to all organizational members on how to get the best from the disabled employees with the goal of achieving competitiveness, giving them all the confidence, trust, and reliability they need

The importance of this kind education through trainings should be evaluated and monitored, and this process can take place through measuring the improvement in the coworkers’ attitude