The Untapped Talent: A B2B Guide to Innovative Hiring and Retention is finally here!

For people with disabilities or other barriers to employment (“untapped talent”) it can be a challenge finding employers with the right skills, tools, and willingness to hire them. COVID-19 has only served to increase these barriers to employment.

However, this guide looks to change that. Developed over a year by business leaders, diversity experts, Hon. Shane Simpson and the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and inclusive hiring advocates — like our very own Sean Easton, Co-Executive Director and Work 2 Live manager — this free guidebook will help small businesses and organizations develop their inclusive hiring practices.

Inclusive Hiring in 2020

The typical pre-pandemic work culture wasn’t working for many, especially for those with diverse needs. The groups already facing barriers pre-pandemic have historically been especially much slower to recover from economic downturns compared to other groups. Pandemic recovery will be no different, unless we ensure the systems and programs are in place to support them.

COVID-19 has exposed the weaknesses in traditional hiring practices. Now, we are hopeful that businesses are beginning to understand the value in adopting supportive employment practices to create opportunities for untapped talent. This has the added effect of creating a better workplace in general.

two people chat happily on the cover for the new "Untapped Talent: B2B Guide for Hiring and Retention" that we are super excited for.Hiring Untapped Talent Makes All Businesses Better

Untapped Talent looks to create a better, more inclusive working environment for everyone. As businesses look to resume operations, they are experiencing general difficulties in hiring and retaining staff. This guide will help create supportive employment programs within businesses that will benefit not only the business and the person hired, but also the other employees in the workplace.

Almost everyone needs some degree of empathy, support, and flexibility in their workplace. Now, it will be nearly impossible to run a successful business without baking these characteristics into company culture. Just as our society realized the importance of so-called “low-skilled jobs” and the necessity of a living wage for all, soon business owners and managers will also wake up to the fact that employees deserve jobs that treat them like human beings with individual needs.

How to Become a Supportive Employer

If you are a business owner who wants to understand how hiring untapped talent can improve your business, here’s what you can do:

  1. Download the free Untapped Talent guide here: CLICK HERE TO GET THE FREE GUIDE
  2. Watch this video to learn more about using this guide for your business:
  3. Commit to putting inclusive recruiting, on-boarding, training, and retention practices into action with your current employees, and all future employees.
  4. Tell everyone you know that you are hiring untapped talent.

For over 20 years, Zero Ceiling has been helping untapped talent find and maintain stable supportive employment with top businesses in Whistler like Whistler Blackcomb. We are very excited that this guide exists, so that we can see more untapped talent finding fantastic employment opportunities in our province.