Accommodating Employees With and Without Disabilities
Efforts to recruit and retain employees with disabilities are often tempered by employers’ concerns over potential workplace accommodation costs. This study reports on accommodations requested and granted in intensive case studies of eight companies, based on more than 5,000 employee and manager sur...
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Published in | Human resource management Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 593 - 621 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Hoboken, USA
Wiley Periodicals, Inc
01.07.2014
Wiley Periodicals Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Efforts to recruit and retain employees with disabilities are often tempered by employers’ concerns over potential workplace accommodation costs. This study reports on accommodations requested and granted in intensive case studies of eight companies, based on more than 5,000 employee and manager surveys, and interviews and focus groups with 128 managers and employees with disabilities. Two unique contributions are that we analyze accommodations for employees without disabilities as well as for those with disabilities, and compare perspectives on accommodation costs and benefits among employees, their coworkers, and their managers. We find people with disabilities are more likely than those without disabilities to request accommodations, but the types of accommodations requested and the reported costs and benefits are similar for disability and non‐disability accommodations. In particular, fears of high accommodation costs and negative reactions of coworkers are not realized; all groups tend to report generally positive coworker reactions. Multilevel models indicate granting accommodations has positive spillover effects on attitudes of coworkers, as well as a positive effect on attitudes of requesting employees, but only when coworkers are supportive. Consistent with recent theorizing and other studies, our results suggest the benefits from a corporate culture of flexibility and attention to the individualized needs of employees. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
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Bibliography: | istex:3832BAF514C6C67911D0EFD16AFB9D1716DDFBF1 ark:/67375/WNG-M8D6JCL9-K ArticleID:HRM21607 |
ISSN: | 0090-4848 1099-050X |
DOI: | 10.1002/hrm.21607 |