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Susanne M. Bruyère, smb23@cornell.eduJudy Young, jy335@cornell.edu

Employment Disability Institute ILR School

Cornell University

2012 National Employment ConferenceThe New Economy: Rethink, Realign, Reinvent

December 5 - 7, 2012

Employer Perspectives on Retention and Advancement in the New Economy:

Bridging Research and Practice

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Presentation Overview• A few facts on the new economy• Implications for employer/business

functioning• Implications for retention and advancement of

employees with disabilities• Related research on facilitative practices for

retention• Implications for vocational rehabilitation

practice and administration/service delivery

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A Few Facts on the New EconomyWhat do we know about the “new economy?”o Job growth in different industrieso Mismatch between jobs and workerso Fewer jobs and more part-time worko The increased value of higher educationo Increased use of flex-place and telecommutingo Changing workforce demographicso Increased cost of health careo Technology changes

We are Manufacturing Money, Not Goods

4Source: Just the Facts: Why we can’t go back to the old economy. Retrieved from: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-new-economy/just-the-facts-why-we-can2019t-go-back-to-the-old-economy

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Mismatch Between Jobs and Workers• Employers were asked about specific skills in which they find

today’s workforce deficient for high school and four-year college graduates:

o Writing in English: 72 percent; 26 percento Foreign language: 62 percent; 41 percento Mathematics: 54 percent; 12 percento History/Geography: 46 percent; 17 percento Government/Economics: 46 percent; 17 percento Science: 45 percent; 13 percento Reading comprehension: 38 percent; 5 percento English language: 21 percent; 4 percentSource: The Conference Board, Blueprint for Jobs in the 21st Century: HR Policy Association

Decline in Full-time Work

Numbers of full time and part-time workers, 2006-2012, in millions.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.

Underemployment Trends

Source: Gallup Poll (2012, March).

Young Workers Earnings by Education

Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The Condition of Education. Figure 49-1

Note: Full-time, full-year workers, age 25-34.

Trends in Telework

Source: Worldatwork (2011). Telework 2011: A WorldatWork special report. Washington DC: Author.

Labor Force Participation – Older Workers

Source: Leonesio, M., Bridges, B., Gesumaria, R., & Del Bene, L. (2012). The Increasing labor force participation of older workers and its effect on income of the aged. Social Security Bulletin, 72 (1), 60-77.

Employer Healthcare Burden

Source: Axeen, S. & Carpenter, E. (2008). The Employer Health care burden. New American Foundation health Policy Program: Issue Brief. Retrieved from www.newamerica.net/health_policy and

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The “New Economy” and the Proliferation of New Technologies

• These new technologies have meant three things for employer practices (especially those under the domain of HR):o More virtual/distance/remote workers and work

teams/relationshipso Faster/faster everything. Ever-increasing productivityo More emphasis and expectation of employee data

analysis in HR practices

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Data: More Emphasis and Expectation of Employee Data Analysis in HR practices

Workforce analysis is more intense than ever • Employers are analyzing their own workforce data more intensively than ever

before.• Researchers are analyzing public-use and employer-specific data more

intensively than ever before.

Construction of data sets matters: • Are data collected on people with disabilities?• How is disability defined?• Within companies, is the culture conducive to self-declaration?

Out of (data) sight Out of analysis Out of mind Practices not fully inclusive of people with disabilities

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Implications for Employer/Business Functioning?• Hiring practices?• Productivity expectations?• Performance management and metrics?• Retention/advancement strategies?• Workplace culture?• Supply chains and globalization?

Cornell Research on Company-Specific Practices – Qualitative “Focus Group” Studies

15http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/p-emprrtc.cfm Employer Practices RRTC

Cornell, EDI and CAHRS, and The Conference Board• Employers are not collecting data or doing analysis

(engagement, pay, retention, etc.) of employees with disabilities as robustly as they do regarding gender and race/ethnicity

• Need to build confidence and awareness among employers to seek this data

• Build good workplace culture for disability disclosureBarrington, 2012.

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Implications of “New Economy” Workplaces for PWD?

• Remote/virtual work – how do we insure people with disabilities are not marginalized when they are not “present” at the worksite?

• Productivity – as productivity demands are increasing and “productivity layoffs” are happening all around us, how do we debunk myths about people with disabilities being less productive?

• HR Metrics – how do we expand public data sets and encourage employers in their company-specific data to more fully include disability status ?

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Implications for Retention and Advancement of Employees

with Disabilities• How might this impact retention and

advancement of employees with disabilities?o ?o ?o ?o ?o ?

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Workplace Climate• Successful companies make it a priority to create

a workplace climate that embraces and encourages diversity

• Organizations with climates of trust and inclusion allow for open dialogue, permitting employees to better plan and control their outcomes

• Movement toward eliminating disability and also age-based discrimination in the workplace

• Internal (DM) and external resources VR and CRPs) can contribute positively to a workplace culture that succeeds in retaining older workers

Benefits of Inclusive Climates1. Across multiple samples, data show members of historically

marginalized groups (e.g., women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, aging workers) experience less discrimination and overall better work experiences in inclusive units

2. Demographic-based differences in experiences of “fit,” perceived fairness, harassment, and perceived organizational support commonly seen in inclusive units enable better group functioning– Higher cohesion, better information exchange– Less conflict and miscommunication– More creativity, higher financial performance

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People with DisabilitiesEmployees with disability experience: • Less “fit” between their skills and demands of the job• Less empowerment on the job• Less (perceived) organizational support• Lower levels of procedural and interactional justice during the

accommodation process• Work arrangements that are less fair (especially fairness of job

responsibilities & access to mentors)• Lower quality relationships with their managers• Coworkers’ and managers’ behaviors to be less inclusivePerhaps therefore:• Lower organizational commitment & job satisfaction• But turnover intentions are not any higher

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Experiences are Better in Inclusive Units• Individuals with disabilities who work in

inclusive climates report significantly– Greater success at having their accommodation

requests granted– Greater coworker support of their accommodations– Better experiences of procedural and interactional

justice during accommodations– Lower levels of disability harassment/discrimination– Higher organizational commitment and satisfaction– Lower turnover intentions

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Experiences are Better for Employees with Disabilities who Enjoy High Quality

Relationships with Their Managers• Individuals with disabilities who are included in

their manager’s “in-group” report:– Higher fit between skills and demands of job– Higher empowerment– Fairer treatment during the accommodation process– Higher organizational commitment, satisfaction, and

willingness to engage in citizenship behaviors– Lower turnover intentions

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Importance of Disclosure for Employers• Increase awareness of where accommodations may

improve employee productivity• Indicator of employee comfort level with sharing

personal information• Federal Executive Order 13548 -- Increasing Federal

Employment of Individuals with Disabilities• Proposed rule to revise Section 503 of the

Rehabilitation Act

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Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation, Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288

“Very important” factors, when deciding to disclose a disability to an employer

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Persons with a disability (N=598)

Need for accommodation 68.2

Supportive supervisor relationship 63.5

Disability friendly workplace 56.8

Active disability recruiting 50.5

Knowing of other successes 49.9

Disability in diversity statement 48.9

Belief in new opportunities 40.7

Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation, Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288

• Company offers flexible work opportunities• Disability awareness/anti-stigma training offered to all

employees• “HR personnel who are familiar with disabilities,

accommodations and understand it is a goal for companies.”

• “Knowing the employer has a fair system in place to resolve complaints.”

• Disability-related Corporate Social Responsibility

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Choosing to Disclose: Other Factors

Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation, Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288

“Very important” factors when deciding to NOT disclose a disability to an employer

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Persons with a disability (N=598)

Risk of being fired/not hired 73.0Employer may focus on disability 62.0Risk of losing health care 61.5Fear of limited opportunities 61.1Supervisor may not be supportive 60.1Risk being treated differently 57.8Risk being viewed differently 53.8No impact on job ability 44.0Desire for privacy 27.9

Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation, Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288

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Implications for Vocational Rehabilitation Practice

• ?• ?• ?• ?• ?• ?

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Implications for VR Administration/Service Delivery?

• ?• ?• ?• ?• ?

Research on Public-Use Data, Preliminary Findings

• Analysis needs to do a better job of analyzing those “dropping out” • “Drop outs” from VR system differ by race/ethnicity: White VR clients with

lower potential wages and African-American VR clients with higher potential wages are more likely to withdraw from the VR system.

• Wage gap could be decreased by promoting policies that are directed to promote skill formation of African-American consumers.

29http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/p-emprrtc.cfm Employer Practices RRTC

Zafar Nazarov, EDI, Cornell

Kevin F. Hallock, Xin Jin and Linda Barrington, ICS, Cornell• Importance of include TOTAL COMPENSATION in analysis• Pay gap for people with disabilities narrows, if we compute broader

compensation measure including benefits.• Little to no research existing in this area in part because commonly used public

data sets don’t have good benefits data or strong measures of disability status.

Related Resources• Employer Assistance and Resource network

(AskEARN) – www.askearn.org• Job Accommodation Network - http://askjan.org/• Disability Management Employers Coalition (

www.dmec.org)• HR (human resources) Tips – www.hrtips.org• Disability statistics – www.disabilitystatistics.org• Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell -

www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/ 30

Catalogue of Disability and Compensation Variables