People with disabilities a key hiring resource for Peppermill

Customers of the Peppermill Hotel and Casino seldom remark about the property's busy recruitment of people with disabilities to work in positions throughout the house. And that, says Carol Stewart, is just as it should be.

Peppermill's director of human resources, and her staff were recognized a few weeks ago as employer of the year by the Nevada Business Leadership Network, which acts as an advocate for employment of people with disabilities.

The Peppermill's staff includes at least 30 people with disabilities of various types, and Stewart says recruitment of people with disabilities helped the hotel and casino overcome the challenges of a tight labor market.

"These individuals are such a wealth of talent that people aren't tapping into," she says. The pool is particularly important as the Peppermill fills some 600 positions as part of its major expansion.

The Peppermill identified people with disabilities as a key source of talent during discussions of diversity in employment. To support that effort, the Peppermill was among the first employers to become an active supporter of Business Leadership Network.

"It's a big part of our recruiting program," Stewart says.

The Peppermill hosts career exploration tours for Washoe County schools students with disabilities and provides on-the-job training for some of them.

Co-workers, meanwhile, are trained about equal opportunity and diversity "It's about mutual respect in the workplace," Stewart says and Peppermill managers get the support they need to help workers with disabilities succeed. That's important, Stewart says, because managers sometime fear that their lives will be more difficult if they have a staff member with a disability.

"Our management team has been very open and accepting," she says.

They're all the more accepting, she says, after they learn that people with disabilities often are far more loyal than other employees.