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With more than 45 million of its citizens classified as having some form of disability, Brazil has made it a priority to include this population in the workforce to the benefit of job seekers, employers and the greater community. While many companies here already operate within a culture of inclusion and diversity, hiring workers with disabilities is not a choice for most mid-sized and large organizations in South America's most populous nation. As of 2004, the government has required employers with 100 or more workers to ensure that 2 to 5% of their jobs are held by people with disabilities. A quarter of Brazil's population are classified as people with disabilities, so the nation faces the enormous task of not only providing social protections against discrimination but also ensuring access to employment. For companies, complying with the country's Inclusion of People with Disabilities Act can be challenging, as only about 20% of the estimated 45 million are able to work, resulting in a scarcity of talent of those with disabilities. Furthermore, the number of highly skilled workers account for just a small portion of this population. According to the Ministry of Education, about 6.7% have a bachelor's degree. The biggest portion (61%) only possess an elementary school education. Recruitment of workers with disabilities — defined by the Brazilian government as those affected by mental, physical, seeing, hearing and motor disabilities — can be complex as it requires employers to understand the law, identify qualifying talent and appropriately match their skills with the needs of hiring managers. In addition to requiring employers to set aside jobs for workers with disabilities, the government has also provided protections for this special class of talent. For instance, companies may not terminate the employment of a worker with disabilities unless a replacement with a similar status is hired. In this way, workers are provided a kind of job guarantee until the employer can recruit a suitable replacement. Additionally, the government has previously launched initiatives to increase the participation of individuals with disabilities in apprenticeship programs. This is done through reduced contributions into the Employee Severance Fund — the country's national unemployment insurance program. Under such an initiative, contributions for apprentice positions are only 2% of the employee's gross pay, compared to 8% for other employees. Employers that lack a clear understanding of the laws or internal capabilities to specifically recruit workers with disabilities are at risk of falling out of compliance, face possible fines or simply lose out on government incentives. Moreover, they may miss out on hiring a source of excellent talent. For example, studies have shown that workers with disabilities tend to be loyal to their employers and, as a result, companies may see reduced turnover rates. These workers also tend to stay much longer with an employer — an average of seven years compared with 1.3 years for the average worker. Many individuals with disabilities, such as those with autism, also possess high-demand skills. Many job seekers with autism possess excellent STEM skills, can think at a higher level of detail and depth, and have exceptional mathematical or coding aptitudes. That's why companies such as Microsoft and SAP have initiated programs to recruit more workers with functional autism. 2

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