The Case for Hiring People with Disabilities in the Workplace: What are the Myths and What Does the Research Show?

Silvia Bonaccio, University of Ottawa, Telfer School of ManagementandCatherine E. Connelly, Ian R. Gellatly, Arif Jetha, and Kathleen A. Martin Ginis

Today’s Agenda Addressing Misinformation

Recruitment Selection Accommodations Performance management

Look for practical tips throughout the slides as identified by this bullet style.

Bonaccio, S., Connelly, C. E., Gellatly, I. R., Jetha, A., & Ginis, K. A. M. (2019). The Participation of People with Disabilities in the Workplace Across the Employment Cycle: Employer Concerns and Research Evidence. Journal of Business and Psychology, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9602-5

The Employment Landscape

Canada: People with disabilities continue to be the most under-represented

equity-seeking group in organizations. > 20% working-age Canadians report living with a disability.Close to 650,000 Canadians living with a disability and who have

the potential to work are currently unemployed. Employment rate disparity: 80% for people without a lived

experience vs. 59% for people with a lived experience.

See the results of the Canadian Survey on Disability for these and other important figures: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2018002-eng.pdf. See also https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/41e1f9eb-1f65-4690-a07b-bfaac5675e7e/9987_MeasuringUp-RPT.pdf

The Employment Landscape

What about other countries? The data are very similar.

“The bottom line is that, all over the world, a person with a disability is less likely to be employed than a person without a disability, often much less so” (Heymann, Stein, & de Elvira Moreno, 2014, p. 4).

Heymann, J., Stein, M. A., & de Elvira Moreno, M. R. (2014). Disability, employment, and inclusion worldwide. In J. Heymann, M. A. Stein, & M. R. de Elvira Moreno (Eds.), Disability and equity at work(pp. 1–9). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Barriers to Employment Participation

Barriers to employment participationQuantity and quality. Stem from managers’ and employers’ lack of information and

attitudes.

How can we enact change? Use data to

Inform and influence.

Augment stories drawn from professional experience.

Evidence-based management

Where are the Barriers?

Bonaccio, Connelly, Gellatly, Jetha, Martin Ginis (2019). Journal of Business and Psychologyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9602-5

Recruitment

Addressing Misinformation: Recruitment

Myth: low number of people with disabilities applying for jobs (Kaye, et al. 2011).

Invisible disabilities: “a wide range of physical and psychological conditions that often have no visible manifestation or have visible features that are not clearly connected to a disability” (Santuzzi, Waltz, Finkelstein, & Rupp, 2014, p. 204).

Disclosure concernsA personal decision

When, to whom, how much to disclose?

Applicants and employees often fear negative career repercussions.

Kaye, H. S., Jans, L. H., & Jones, E. C. (2011). Why don’t employers hire and retain workers with disabilities? Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21(4), 526–536.Santuzzi, A. M., Waltz, P. R., Finkelstein, L. M., & Rupp, D. E. (2014). Invisible disabilities: Unique challenges for employees and organizations. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7(2), 204–219. Von Schrader, S., Malzer, V., & Bruyère, S. (2014). Perspectives on disability disclosure: The importance of employer practices and workplace climate. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 26(4), 237–255

Addressing Misinformation: Recruitment Addressing the lack of awareness

https://www.ccrw.org/abcs-of-disability-2/ https://www.hirefortalent.ca/main/toolkit/disabilities-101 https://askearn.org/ https://askjan.org

Statistics http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/ https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/89-654-X

Addressing Misinformation: Recruitment

Myth: recruiting people with disabilities is hard But, people with disabilities form “one of the largest underutilized labor

pools” (Schur et al., 2014, p. 594).

Are applicants discouraged from applying? What messages are your recruitment materials sending?

Where are you posting the recruitment ads? Are you reaching a broad audience?

https://www.workink.com/

How accessible is your recruitment process? Are there any barriers?

What are your policies and guidelines encouraging diverse recruitment and hiring?

Schur, L., Nishii, L., Adya, M., Kruse, D., Bruyère, S. M., & Blanck, P. (2014). Accommodating employees with and without disabilities. Human Resource Management, 53, 593–621.

Addressing Misinformation: Recruitment

Managers are unaware of available resources Lunch & Learn: webinars followed by brainstorming

https://askearn.org/training-center/webinars/building-the-pipeline-successful-strategies-for-recruiting-hiring-people-with-disabilities/

https://www.wwdpi.org/Webinars/Pages/default.aspx

Partner with expert organizations https://www.ccrw.org/i-am-an-employer/

https://gatewayassociation.ca/

Partner with local colleges and universities https://carleton.ca/employers/hire-new-grads/hire-students-with-disabilities/

Schur, L., Nishii, L., Adya, M., Kruse, D., Bruyère, S. M., & Blanck, P. (2014). Accommodating employees with and without disabilities. Human Resource Management, 53, 593–621.

Selection

Addressing Misinformation: Selection

Myth: the qualifications of people with disabilities. Stereotypes devalue abilities (Dovidio, Pagotto, & Hebl, 2011).

But a focus on abilities is key in successful selection decisions.

Census data shows that people with & without disabilities are often similar on important markers of employability.

Match essential job requirements to applicants’ knowledge and skills for all applicants.

Have up to date job analyses and job descriptions. When college or university degrees are required, partner with local

institutions to facilitate the identification of qualified applicants.

Dovidio, J. F., Pagotto, L., & Hebl, M. R. (2011). Implicit attitudes and discrimination against people with physical disabilities. In R. L. Wiener & S. L. Willborn (Eds.), Disability and aging discrimination: Perspectives in law and psychology (pp. 157–183). New York: Springer.

Addressing Misinformation: Selection Myth: selection process will be more difficult.

Managers lack training and are worried about doing/saying the wrong thing (Kaye et al., 2011).

Training and information are widely available https://askearn.org/topics/recruitment-hiring/interviews/

https://www.hirefortalent.ca/main/toolkit/interviews

Interviews are the most common selection tool; yet, hiring managers are often not trained on interview best practices. Structured interviews help safeguard against biased decisions (Reilly et al.,

2006). Structured interviews: ask the same (pre-established) questions to all

candidates, in the same manner. Have a standard scoring key to evaluate answers vis-à-vis job requirements.

Kaye, H. S., Jans, L. H., & Jones, E. C. (2011). Why don’t employers hire and retain workers with disabilities? Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21(4), 526–536.Reilly, N. P., Bocketti, S. P., Maser, S. A., & Wennet, C. L. (2006). Benchmarks affect perceptions of prior disability in a structured interview. Journal of Business and Psychology, 20(4), 489–500.

Accommodations

Addressing Misinformation: Accommodations

Myth: the cost of accommodations. Managers often think that accommodations are expensive and

complicated (Kaye et al., 2011).

Accommodations are often inexpensive. JAN has tracked accommodation costs since 2004 and surveyed over 2000

employers.

More than half of accommodations are cost-free. When a cost is incurred, the majority of respondents report a one time cost of < $500.

https://askjan.org/topics/costs.cfm

Kaye, H. S., Jans, L. H., & Jones, E. C. (2011). Why don’t employers hire and retain workers with disabilities? Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21(4), 526–536.

Addressing Misinformation: Accommodations

Accommodations are frequently requested by workers without disabilities (Schur et al., 2014). Same accommodations are requested and there are no differences in costs.

Flexible work arrangements are the most common accommodation (Till et al., 2015).

Do not equate accommodations with disabilities; instead think of accommodations as practices that support all employees. This helps remove the stigma that sometimes accompanies accommodations.

Managers forget to look at benefits of accommodations (JAN survey; Solovieva et al., 2011). Accommodations help retain employees (curb turnover), improve productivity

and efficiency, ….

Accommodations improve morale, job satisfaction, commitment, ….Schur, L., Nishii, L., Adya, M., Kruse, D., Bruyère, S. M., & Blanck, P. (2014). Accommodating employees with and without disabilities. Human Resource Management, 53, 593–621.Till, M., Leonard, T., Yeung, S., & Nicholls, G. (2015). A profile of the labour market experiences of adults with disabilities among Canadians aged 15 years and older, 2012 (Statistics Canada Cat. No. 89-654-X2015005). Ottawa: Statistics Canada. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.23523Solovieva, T. I., Dowler, D. L., & Walls, R. T. (2011). Employer benefits from making workplace accommodations. Disability and Health Journal, 4(1), 39–45.

Addressing Misinformation: Accommodations

Resources “how to”: https://www.ccrw.org/programs-and-services/jas-job-accommodation-service/

Built in support when organizations hire in partnership with organizations like CCRW

https://askjan.org/soar.cfm

Webinar on the duty to accommodate and case studies to help practice www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/eng/content/webinars

Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund list of relevant laws around the world (https://dredf.org/legal-advocacy/international-disability-rights/international-laws/

Resources on financial incentives/subsidies: www.canada.ca/en/services/business/hire/wagesubsidiesotherassistanceprogra

ms

www.askearn.org/topics/laws-regulations/employer_financial_incentives

www.WWDPI.org webinar on financial incentives for hiring people with disabilities

Performance Management

Addressing Misinformation: Performance Management Myth: employees with disabilities are poor performers, more likely to be absent,

or turnover (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2008). Kaletta et al., studied productivity in distribution centers. When performance

differences were found, employees with disabilities performed better. They also showed lower turnover rates.

Kaletta et al. also report lower rates of serious accidents; however, workers with disabilities may be more vulnerable in unsafe work environments (Breslin et al., 2018).

Hernandez and McDonald found no differences in need for supervision.

Lindsay et al. show that organizations that hire inclusively reap important bottom line benefits.

Lengnick-Hall, M. L., Gaunt, P. M., & Kulkarni, M. (2008). Overlooked and underutilized: People with disabilities are an untapped human resource. Human Resource Management, 47(2), 255–273.Kaletta, J. P., Binks, D. J., & Robinson, R. (2012). Creating an inclusive workplace: Integrating employees with disabilities into a distribution center environment. Professional Safety: Journal of the American Society of Safety Engineers, 57(6), 62–71. Hernandez, B., & McDonald, K. (2007). Exploring the bottom line: A study of the costs and benefits of workers with disabilities. Retrieved from http://bbi.syr.edu/_assets/staff_bio_publications/McDonald_Exploring_the_Bottom_Line_2007.pdf.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-018-9756-z Breslin, C., Lay, M., Jetha, A., & Smith, P. (2018). Occupational health and safety vulnerability among Canadian workers with disabilities: Examining pathways that perpetuate health disparities. Disability and Rehabilitation.Lindsay, S., Cagliostro, E., Albarico, M., Mortaji, N., & Karon, L. (2018). A systematic review of the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 28(4), 634-655.

Addressing Misinformation: Performance Management Reflect on the benefits of hiring, developing, and retaining talent

inclusively. www.odenetwork.com/businesses/why-hire https://www.hirefortalent.ca/main/toolkit/retention https://www.hirefortalent.ca/main/toolkit/business-case Conversation hour at Chambers of Commerce, business alliances,

industry conferences, etc.

If performance problems appear, engage in performance management proactively, as you would do with every employee. Focus on regular performance feedback, review the clarity of

instructions and required training, etc. Work collaboratively on identifying and adjusting any

accommodations, but do not assume that the disability is necessarily the cause of the performance problem.

Reflecting on your Own Practices

www.benchmarkability.org

A self-assessment tool developed by researchers at Cornell University.

Helps employers reflect on their practices on Recruitment and hiring

Career development and retention

Accessibility and accommodation

Compensation and benefits

Diversity and inclusion

Metrics and analytics

Acknowledgments

Research from the Canadian Disability Participation Project was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Grant # 895-2013-1021.

Please visit https://cdpp.ca/ for additional research reports, resources, and information.

Thank you!