Accommodating Employees With and Without Disabilities |
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Authors: | Lisa Schur Lisa Nishii Meera Adya Douglas Kruse Susanne M Bruyère Peter Blanck |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University;2. Human Resource Management department at the ILR School at Cornell University;3. Psychology DepartmentSyracuse University, and the Consortium for Culture and Medicine;4. School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University, and the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts;5. Employment and Disability Institute, and Cornell University ILR (Industrial and Labor Relations) School in Ithaca, New York;6. Syracuse Universityand the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University |
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Abstract: | 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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Keywords: | accommodations disability work‐life balance |
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