Differing abilities provide workforce solution

Ryan Ruzziconi

Guest Columnist

May 18, 2026

Walk into any business in the state right now and ask the owner what keeps them up at night. 

More often than not, the answer isn’t competition or interest rates.

It’s people.

Who is going to show up tomorrow morning?

Who is going to stay long enough to learn the job?

Who is going to keep the operation running when turnover in routine roles continues to outpace hiring?

For years, the standard response has been to recruit harder, pay more and hope something sticks.

But in a labor market where Wisconsin’s unemployment rate consistently hovers near historic lows, that playbook has reached its limits.

The workers we are used to recruiting simply are not there in the numbers we need.

The question facing employers is no longer how to recruit better.

It is whether we are willing to develop the workforce we need from talent pools we have historically overlooked.

Overlooked talent pool

One of the largest of those pools is right in front of us.

Nationally, fewer than 42% of working-age people with disabilities participate in the labor force, even though research consistently shows strong job readiness when training and support are in place.

That is not a story about capability.

It is an infrastructure story.

When the pipeline exists, the talent shows up, and it tends to stay.

That is the work Aspiro has been doing in Northeastern Wisconsin for decades, and it has accelerated significantly in recent years.

Today, Aspiro serves more than 1,600 clients with four employment readiness programs designed to prepare adults with disabilities for meaningful work in our local economy.

These are not feel-good programs disconnected from business reality.

They are workforce development programs built around what regional employers tell us they need.

Plus, these programs provide individuals with disabilities with earned wages and the opportunity to earn a living in our community.

Case in point

Consider what is happening at Epic Event Center.

When the venue needs to flip its floor between events, laying out hundreds of chairs, configuring the room and breaking it back down – they call Aspiro.

A team arrives on schedule.

The seating gets laid out correctly.

Epic does not field calls about someone being sick or running late, because the team is managed by Aspiro.

The events center does not absorb the cost of onboarding or training each individual worker, because Aspiro handles that on the front end. 

The work gets done, and Epic’s leadership gets to focus on the events themselves rather than the staffing churn that traditionally surrounds setup and teardown.

That arrangement is not charity.

It is a workforce solution to a workforce problem.

It also points to something important about the nature of the jobs that are hardest to fill.

Measurable results

Many of the open roles employers struggle with share a common profile.

They are routine-driven, they count on reliability more than credentials and they suffer from high turnover rather than a lack of human capability.

These are precisely the roles where inclusive workforce preparation produces measurable business results and stable teams that build expertise over time rather than constantly cycling through new hires.

Wisconsin’s recent Department of Workforce Development report has increasingly highlighted disability employment as a practical lever for addressing labor shortages and turnover.

The thinking is straightforward: In a labor market with more jobs than workers, you cannot solve the problem by reshuffling the same pool.

You must expand who we prepare for work.

Multiples approaches

For employers considering whether this approach fits their operation, a few things are worth understanding.

First, inclusive hiring works best when it is paired with the kind of preparation and ongoing support that organizations like Aspiro provide.

The pipeline matters as much as the placement.

Workers come in already trained on workplace expectations and often the specific tasks the employer needs done.

Second, the structure can be flexible.

Some businesses bring on individual employees through supported employment models.

Others, like Epic Event Center, contract for team-based work where Aspiro manages staffing, scheduling and supervision.

Both approaches solve real problems.

Third, the business case stands on its own.

Reduced turnover and reliable attendance are not soft benefits.

They show up in the numbers.

There is a broader point here that I think Northeast Wisconsin’s business community is uniquely positioned to act on.

Our region has always taken pride in a workforce defined by reliability and craftsmanship.

Those values do not belong to any one demographic.

They show up in adults with disabilities at rates that should make every employer in Northeast Wisconsin pay attention.

What has been missing in many cases is not the talent.

It is the connection between that talent and the employers who need it.

That connection is what workforce development, done well, looks like.

Not a recruiting campaign.

Not a pipeline of the same workers competing for the same jobs at slightly higher wages.

A genuine expansion of who we prepare and how we put them to work.

Wisconsin employers who are tired of the call that starts with “I can’t come in today” might consider whether the workforce they have been recruiting is the workforce they actually need. 

There is another one ready to go.

The infrastructure to reach it already exists.

The question is whether more of us are ready to use it.