Introduction

Recruiting and maintaining a diverse work force is one of the hottest topics for todays PR managers (cite: Tactics July 2007) (Czarnecki & Fisher, 2007). The ones that come to mind relating to diverse workforce usually would be ethnicity, gender and age (Lengnick-Hall, et al., 2008) (Harcourt, et al., 2005). However, there is also another group of people who exist among society. Even many governments of countries in the world are enforcing companies to hire these people. The population of these people has reached 15% of total population in the world, which is equal to one billion people and they are living with disabilities (WHO, 2012). As disabled people are seen as liabilities by companies, they tend to be excluded during the recruitment process (Bendick & Nunes, 2012; Noe, et al., 2011; Sipersteina, et al., 2006). This is because most employers see this group of people as workers who cannot work quickly, take long time of absence, need special accommodations whose extra cost will be incurred, and other negative perceptions towards these people (Kaye, et al., 2011). However, myth will only be myth. In fact, disabled people actually have the same productivity level among other workers (Nathanson, 1977). It happens at Walgreen Co. in United States of America. According to Deb Russell, the manager of Walgreen, the result of hiring people with disabilities has been statistically excellent (Huppke, 2012). This is just one of the positive outcomes of hiring disabled people. Thus, stereotyping of disabled workers should be removed and HR managers have to re-think about hiring them.

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Research Question
Hiring disabilities usually are thought to be the worst choice for HR managers during the recruitment process. However, is this really the truth? As many myths about hiring disabilities are known to be false, HR managers should re-consider about adding people with disabilities to their work force. Many companies that have hired disabled workers have been successful with high performance. However, should HR managers decide to hire disabled workers, some implications will arise. So, What are the implications of hiring disabled workers to human resource manager?

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Importance of Study
Disabled people are one of the vital talent pools for companies to look into (Mullich, 2004). This is because older generations are retiring from their jobs and the companies have to find their replacement (MP & Anderson, 2012; Czarnecki & Fisher, 2007; Mullich, 2004). It is estimated that between 785 million and 985 million disabled people are of working age which means it is a large pool of potential workers (ILO, n.d.). They are waiting to be hired by companies. Government is also promoting that the companies should hire these people (United States General Accounting Office, 2002). If the companies are hiring them, then there will be consequences or implications. Therefore, this study of implications of hiring disabled people is quite important as this could be a reference for human resource managers when they want to hire disabled people. They can consider some of the key points presented in this study and compare it to the current situation of the organisation or the policy of the country. Other aspect of the importance in this study is to help to change the negative perceptions of having people with disabilities in the workforce. Some key points tackle the myth of hiring disabled people, thus helps to changing the negative mind set to positive one or at least, neutral mind set. At the end, it indirectly benefits the disabled people as more companies change their perceptions and are willing to hire this group of people. On the other words, this study helps to stress the benefits of hiring disabled workers. However, on the other hand, this study also reveals the negative outcomes of hiring disabled workers. This might make human resource managers to think twice before hiring them.

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