As time progresses, more and more people are becoming aware that people living with a disability have a lot to offer when it comes to employment and the Australian workforce in general. There can be distinct advantages to hiring someone with a disability and that’s what we’re going to be taking a look at in this article.

If you’re an employer, next time you have a position available, you may want to consider hiring an individual with a disability who is suitable for the job. Let’s take a look at some reasons why.

It Can Enhance Your Business Brand and Reputation

If your business or company develops a reputation for diversity in the workplace, this sends out positive signals to your customers and the general public about your business. Diversity in the workplace means hiring people from all walks of life and this includes individuals living with a disability.

As the word spreads, your company will be viewed as progressive, fair, and enlightened. This can only spell good news moving forward, as your business brand and reputation are everything in today’s world.

Many Employees With Disabilities Are More Reliable

Studies and statistics show that workers who have a disability tend to be more reliable, on average, than other able-bodied workers. One reason for this could simply be that a person with a disability may appreciate being given an opportunity more than the average worker and are therefore more committed and devoted.

Disabled employees tend to have fewer sick days, are often more punctual, and tend to focus on their tasks for longer periods without being distracted or wanting to take a break.

Reliability in an employee is a huge asset and an attribute that every employer usually looks for when finding the right candidate to fill a position.

People With Disabilities Are More Likely To Become Long-Term Employees

Job seekers and employees living with a disability are often very focused on finding the right job for themselves and once they have been successful, there is a high chance that the employee will want to stay with the business or company for the long term.

One reason for this could be the added challenges faced by job seekers with a disability and the fact that they are very grateful and content once they do find a suitable position.

Employers like to have good employees that are loyal and keen to stay on. It also saves time, money, and hassle when you maintain a stable workforce, as you’re not constantly having to re-advertise a position every time someone leaves.

If you’re looking for stability in your workforce, consider giving someone with a disability a go.

Workers With Disabilities Can Inspire More Productivity

When other employees witness a disabled worker performing their duties to high expectations and with proficiency, it can inspire a higher level of quality and greater productivity from your entire workforce. For an employer, this can only be good news and good for business overall.

Many workers with a disability can be just as productive as able-bodied employees and in some cases, even more, productive and proficient.

Gain Access To a Range of Subsidies

As an employer who proposes to hire someone with a disability, you may be able to gain access to government subsidies, such as having a portion of the employee’s wages subsidised, as an incentive, by the Federal Government.

This is something that’s worth taking the time to look into and see what your options are.

Job Roles and Industries for Disabled Job Seekers

 The jobs for disabled people are many and varied. It often comes down to what the individual is capable of doing, taking their disability into consideration, what their experience and skills are, and their willingness to work.

Let’s quickly list just a select few jobs or industries that are suited to workers with a disability:

●     IT support

●     Disability support worker

●     Pharmacy assistant

●     Medical admin roles

●     Accounting and finance

●     Researcher or analyst

●     Vocational counselling

●     Writing and content creation

●     Social media manager

●     Production

●     And many more…

The Takeaway

If you’re an employer looking to fill a position, keep in mind hiring someone with a disability. There are numerous advantages and it could just prove to be the best business decision you ever made.

Are you planning to import electronic items from China? Remember, buying electronics whether it is components or any sub-assembly, is always a very tricky and delicate process. Unless you have full understanding and exposure to electronics items, it can always misfire.

Besides the technicalities about electronics, you also have to understand properly about various regulations that are from time to time introduced in different countries can put you into a spin.

Particularly, if you are going for any OEM manufactured electronics products, then in most cases, it will need profound technical knowledge and also financial pre-investment.

No suppliers will offer you any services free to help you to develop your product unless you are ready to agree to a certain minimum order quantity.

That is because most suppliers who will develop any new product will not prefer to invest in the beginning as they are not too sure whether the product will really sell, so why invest in developmental activities that may need thousands of dollars?

Therefore, you need to find a supplier who has already developed the product for certain larger US or European customers that already worked successfully.

Also, you need to find an electronic vendor, who is really interested to work with you and will be compliant with your product. You must straightway reject any supplier who is not interested to make the product compliant.

Buying electronics components from China

If you regularly buy electronics from China, then you must have noticed that their prices are constantly rising, and often their lead time is also six months or longer.

Few companies have already stopped production and are now waiting for the market to get stabilized. However, a few others are still supplying their customers. It will be worth having a suitable buying agent in China who can guide you properly.

You have got three options with your buying strategy from China:

Ask your present supplier to stick those components now

This approach will mean that you will send your money to your buying agent in China and he buys the components that you will need for the next few months and maintains your inventory.

In China, this approach is normally adopted as your agent can declare everything that he purchased on which he paid VAT, and later he can export and claim the rebate for VAT.

This approach, however, has a few disadvantages:

• You will send plenty of advance payment amount to your buying agent in China that you will not prefer to work for a much longer time. In case your agent messes up with quality, then you have no way to salvage them.
• What if your agent is short on cash? Quite possibly, he may be tempted to sell a few of your components to make a profit.
• Most electronic components are very high-value items. Will you prefer to store them in your agent’s warehouse with certain unknown security? Whether he has any insurance against the fire, damages, etc.?

You may go for a well-crafted agreement with your buying agent in China to reduce all these risks. However, if your agent is not well-established in business such an approach is also not advisable.

You buy all those components and stock them yourself

You can buy these components and have them stocked in China, in a certain warehouse whom you trust. You can also pay that warehouse to buy them on your behalf.

This is a relatively straightforward process. The parts are yours, consignment, however, your agent may disagree because it may break your terms where he was looking forward to obtaining the necessary VAT rebate, so this will need discussion.

In this setup, you will gain big transparency and control:

• The warehouse will happily share the sources from where he buys the components. Their business model is not keeping such information secret that is generally with your sourcing agent.
• They will also ensure the parts are genuine. As an example, while buying you can double-check whether the packaging is fully sealed.

Check whether you can use any alternative components

This can be a little tricky proposition, particularly for electronic products. In case they were designed and tested with a certain component, changing any key component will mean a complete redesign and need plenty of extra costs.

For the component that is not a key component, the concern will be relatively lesser. Having a certain backup when its ‘original’ becomes unavailable is quite convenient.

How to classify your electronics based on application

The following are the few important classifications:

Consumer electronics

The industry of consumer electronics has been continually growing and also evolving. We have seen a few exciting new developments within the last decade and the developments are happening very rapidly.

Generally, consumer electronics will refer to the following items:

• Smart TVs
• Tablets and computers
• Smartphones
• Air-conditioners
• Any other wearable devices

Medical electronics

This market generally relates to components like sensors, displays, batteries, memory devices, and microcontrollers. The market for medical electronics is almost USD 5.1 billion in value by 2019 and will be reached by 2025 USD 6.6 billion.

Medical electronics relates to the following:

• Hearing aids
• Medical imaging
• Artificial joints
• Medical monitors

Automotive electronics

The most important part played by automotive electronics will mostly be related to the improvement of the comfort, safety, economy, and also entertainment of our cars.

Most of the electronic controls are made up of microprocessors, sensors, actuators, several different electronic components, and parts.

Digital electronics

In terms of share of products in the global digital market, the biggest share will be for logic and memory circuits, which itself will account for 57.49%. This will be followed by microprocessors that may be for 14%, and finally, analogue circuits will be accounted for about 12%.

The IC industry chain will mainly include the core industry chain, demand industry chain, and support industry chain.

The chain of the core industry includes:

• IC design
• IC manufacturing
• IC packaging
• IC testing

The chain of support industry includes IC materials, EDA, equipment, IP nuclear, etc.

In addition to that, there are plenty of regulations imposed by the supplier country and also your country regarding electronics that keep changing from time to time. You need to keep yourself updated while importing electronics from China. 

Over the past decade, the business world has seen major changes in workflow and communication methods. Relying almost exclusively on digital technology, last year’s pandemic demonstrated how offsite remote work can help a business thrive during trying times. With that in mind, cloud-based systems for data sharing and communication have quickly become an industry standard. Nowhere is that more evident than in the cutting-edge application of cloud-based customer service.

As stated, the recent pandemic and its shelter-in-place mandates forced businesses of every size and industry to retool daily workflow methods. However, customer satisfaction remained the priority. The use of cloud customer service platforms became a key catalyst for ensuring customer satisfaction, as well as demonstrating a dedication to quality service. Here, we will look at the basics of cloud customer service and the benefits such a solution can provide to your business.

How Cloud Customer Service Works

Simply put, cloud customer service is the use of virtual call center software for communications between a company and its customers. With a virtual call center in place, that business depends on industrial-grade contact center software that’s hosted through an online cloud. This practice allows the company to run its customer service department completely offsite, enabling virtual call center employees to monitor both inbound calls and outbound calls entirely from a home workstation. With no loss of quality in customer support communication, callers remain unaware that their entire customer experience is conducted by a remote call center agent. In fact, a virtual call center can increase a company’s customer service hours of operation.

In order for a company to successfully integrate remote call center solutions into its daily protocols, a few important elements must be considered. For example, all virtual call center employees must have the correct hardware capable of fast communication and multiple phone lines. Likewise, a powerful cloud solution is key for that call center agent to retrieve customer history, as well as important shared data from the business’ home office. However, if all of those prerequisites are met, a cloud customer support solution can save any business both time and money, with the potential for even stronger customer engagement.

The Future of Virtual Call Center Solutions

There are many benefits that come with a cloud-based call center solution. By switching to a cloud platform, a business no longer pays for the maintenance and operation of onsite servers. Likewise, moving the entire customer service department offsite decreases the necessity for brick-and-mortar office space. With a reputable call center platform integrated into the workflow, all customer service representatives have the option to work from a home office. Although cloud communication solutions have already been successfully used by large companies, virtual call centers are uniquely ideal for small business operations. A virtual call center allows smaller entities such as startups to expand their customer support options.

Aside from the many financial benefits, virtual call centers allow companies to extend their hours for customer support, as well as increase the size of the customer service workforce. By allowing remote call center agents to work on a rotating schedule, the service department can now function on a 24-hour basis, which is one of the greatest assets for successful customer satisfaction.

Additionally, the integration of a cloud-based call center can help pave the way for further cloud solutions. As many businesses begin to provide their team members with offsite options, cloud solutions are also perfect for data sharing, as well as with virtual office platforms. A virtual data room platform used in conjunction with cloud customer support can empower a company to conduct all communications with both clients and customers entirely offsite.