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Building an Inclusive Workplace

About 10% of staff at Stakes Manufacturing has a disability. Co-Founder Jed Seifert talks about how inclusion benefits both employees and employers, and the many career resources available.

Nearly 25 years ago, Jed Seifert’s brother landed a job that would change his life.

Darren Seifert was born with Fragile X syndrome, the leading known genetic cause of autism that can lead to profound intellectual disabilities. In 2000, Seifert took a job with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a mail clerk, a position he still holds today.

“It gave him financial independence, the ability to move out of my parents’ house, purpose, happiness, work friends, the things everybody deserves and that most people take for granted,” says Seifert. “It also took a huge burden off of my family – anybody who’s got somebody in their family with disabilities knows you spend a great deal of your life wondering what’s going to happen to them after you pass.”

Because of his personal experience, Jed Seifert opened Stakes Manufacturing (asi/88974), a large print-on-demand operation, with the goal of including staff with disabilities – now, about 10% of his 250 team members are part of that cohort. In this episode of Promo Insiders, Seifert shares how they’re some of the most hardworking, loyal employees he’s ever had, and the many resources available for companies interested in building a more inclusive workplace.

“If you’re not hiring people with disabilities, plain and simple, you’re not hiring the best employees,” he says. “There’s a huge population that’s open to come work, and you’re going to find some of your most dedicated, upbeat, grateful employees in that. They come to work excited and smiling, and that’s contagious.”