Greater Houston’s workforce is diverse and highly-skilled, but employment leaders say companies can do more to connect with what they call “untapped talent.” These include veterans, people with disabilities and employees on the autism spectrum.

That was the focus of the Partnership’s inaugural Talent Resources Group: Untapped Talent event on April 24. Panelists led off by presenting what they do and how diversity and inclusion benefits the workplace. 

Laura Alter, Manager of Employment Services at Jewish Family Service, began by laying out why employers should hire someone with a disability.

“It can be from your heart,” said Alter, “but it’s also a business decision. People with a disability can present a unique opportunity.”

Alter said employers that hire people with disabilities are four times more likely to outperform their peers, and companies that openly value inclusion appeal to a wider customer and supplier base. 

Accenture's Laurie Henneborn, who's been working as part of the Accenture Research organization for nearly 20 years, shared findings from the company's study, Getting To Equal:The Disability Inclusion Advantage, which illustrates a data driven case for why companies need to have disability hiring practices.

The discussion was personal for panelist Jeff Miller. He’s the CEO of Potentia, which matches employers with job candidates who are on the autism spectrum. Miller said he understood the challenges for these candidates because his son, Charlie, was diagnosed with autism at 6 years old. 

“Fast forward 10 years, and I have a young man on my hands,” said Miller. “What this really awoke in me is that I need to stop thinking in 5-10 minute increments and start thinking in 5-10 year increments of what young autistic adults need.”

Miller said college graduates with autism face an uphill battle in the job market. 

“If you are on the autism spectrum and you have a college degree, you have an 80% chance of being unemployed today,” said Miller. “That blew me away as a dad and as a business person.” 

Miller, Alter and the other panelists also fielded a variety of questions from attendees. That included a question about what their companies are doing around retention and job satisfaction for military veterans entering the workforce.

“We work on the resume and look for those transferable skills,” said Beth Arlington, Vice President of Veterans Employee Resource Group at AIG. “And for veterans, there are a lot of transferable skills. We try to promote those skills in the interview and on the resume. So they may not bring the technical [expertise], but they may bring a different maturity.”

Panelists were also asked about themes Human Resources should build into leadership programs to better support employees with disabilities. 

“We emphasize [to businesses] that you don’t have to turn your business on its head to make it work,” said Miller. “But you do want to think about how you write job descriptions, for instances. There’s [also] interviewing. Onboarding is another big one.”

Launched in 2019, the Partnership's Talent Resources Group (TRG) provides HR professionals, ERG leaders and recruiters with access to information to grow their companies most important resource: talent. Topics address talent attraction, retention, enhancing corporate culture as well as continuing education needs for HR professionals. Learn more about the Program here.