Derek is 27 and has cerebral palsy. He has a two-year college degree, but hasn’t held a steady job since graduation. He struggles to speak and can’t walk. Yet Laserfiche resellers Bolt Document Management gave him a job helping to build electronic document repositories throughout Indiana.

For Bolt and other Laserfiche resellers across the country, Derek and others like him have the right stuff for one of the most onerous tasks in document management: scanning paper files and turning them into electronic images.

“As an employer you always have to look at the bottom line and we did when we hired Derek,” says Bolt co-owner Jeff Nelson. “We knew we’d have to make some concessions, but in the long term, it’s more than worth it.”

The normally hard-to-hire are turning out to be the ideal candidates for the scanning that is the most labor intensive aspect of any office’s conversion from paper to electronic documents. Often millions of documents have to be converted into electronic images in order to build Laserfiche systems for paper-heavy government, healthcare and financial services organizations.

Patience and attention to detail top the job description. It turns out that people with disabilities, when allowed to work at their own pace, can flourish at these jobs—and, as a result, more and more Laserfiche resellers and users are giving them a chance to do so.

Laserfiche reseller Crabtree Companies, in Eagan, MN, was recognized by the state’s Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities for its employment of people with disabilities. Richland County New Hope Industries Inc., in Ohio, has placed up to a dozen of its developmentally disabled clients into scanning jobs for, among other large clients, the Ohio Lottery Commission.

Nelson got involved when he was contacted by the Indiana chapter of the AWS, a national organization dedicated to helping those living with disabilities find jobs. The organization proposed Bolt hire Paula, a local resident with cerebral palsy.

The agency provided Bolt with a six-week stipend to help Nelson with Paula’s early training, which was expected to be more lengthy than the company’s typical new hire. The stipend ran out before Paula got up to speed, Nelson says. However, Bolt stuck with Paula and its patience has paid off.

“We’ve learned with working with people like Paula that if you let them find their own way you realize one day they are productive individuals within the organization,” Nelson says. “If you’re willing to do a little extra work at the outset, there are tremendous benefits in the long run.”

Such success stories are oft repeated, according to AWS spokesperson Eden Gildea. Disabled employees have greater loyalty to their employers, she says, citing U.S. Department of Education statistics. They also have greater flexibility filling work shifts and they call in sick less often.

There are tax benefits as well. On average it costs a workplace $600 to accommodate a disabled employee; however half of any such expenses incurred—between $250 and $10,250—are tax deductible. An employer that hires an employee receiving Supplemental Security Income or who is a certified vocational rehabilitation participant may take a tax credit of up to 40% of the first $6,000 in first-year wages per qualifying employee. The maximum per employee credit is $2,400 in a given tax year.

“We’re finding that the state and federal tax incentives in this current economic climate are a big help for businesses interested in hiring the disabled,” Gildea says. “And it’s wonderful for the employees. Many times they’ve been turned down by other employers for lesser jobs. Getting a job like this, that they can handle, builds up their confidence and makes them feel like they are worth something.”

It makes the employer feel pretty good too. In Minnesota, Crabtree has inspired the company’s customers to follow suit, according company engineer Clayton Baer.

“These people are getting paid much more than, for example, janitorial services or bagging groceries in a supermarket,” Baer says. “You can’t believe the look on their faces when they get their paychecks. It has definitely been a success for us.”

After Paula worked out so well, Bolt decided to hire Derek, who has been working with the firm for six months and is doing a great job, Nelson says.

“We’ve had plenty of high school and college graduates who cut their teeth with us and then and move on,” Nelson says. “Derek and Paula are there when we need them.”

Scanning is a vital task particularly well suited for workers with disabilities, largely because it can be easily tailored to meet an individual’s needs and abilities. Paula is limited to document preparation, indexing and scanning, while Derek is being trained in computer programming.

“We look at an individual’s strengths and weaknesses and tailor the positions accordingly,” Nelson says. “That made us better able to take advantage of their abilities while still accommodating their disabilities. And there is still plenty of work for them.”

While hiring disabled makes good business sense for a number of reasons, Laserfiche resellers and customers alike say there is more than money motivating them.

“Paula is a ray of sunshine. When she walks into the office, it just puts a smile on everybody’s face,” Nelson says. “We’re a small organization and we can only do so much, but after our experiences with Paula and Derek, we’d like to do more.”

Posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 2:31 pm under Customer Stories, Other Industries. You can comment on this post.