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Maine's CHOICES CEO Project

Business Survey Results

CHOICES CEO project partners are continually interested in learning how to reach more Maine businesses about the benefits of employing people with disabilities. To that end, the CHOICES CEO project purchased four questions on disability and employment issues as part of the larger Minding Maine's Business Survey, conducted in January 2009. The survey reaches 400 businesses across the state. Key findings include:

• Twenty percent of businesses surveyed said they employed someone with a physical or mental disability. However, positive responses varied significantly according to the size of the business. Only 10 percent of small businesses (five or less employees) reported employing someone with a disability, while more than 75 percent of the largest companies (more than 100 employees) stated that they employed someone with a disability.
  
  
• Seventy-four percent of companies that employ a person with a disability report they do so because the employee was the best available person for the job. Other common reasons cited include: social responsibility, having family or friends with disabilities, and bettering public image.
  
  
• Thirty-five percent of respondents said it would be helpful to be part of a business network that would share information regarding the employment of people with disabilities. Among large companies, 70 percent said that such a network would be helpful.

For more information about the survey and findings from the questions sponsored by CHOICES CEO, see Maine Employer Views of Workers with Disabilities: Results from the 2009 Minding Maine’s Business Survey

CHOICES CEO activities are staffed out of the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. This web site is part of the CHOICES CEO project, funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through a grant to Maine's Department of Health and Human Services (grant #1QACMS030316). Views expressed do not represent official policy of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, or the University of Southern Maine.