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  5. Accommodating Employees With and Without Disabilities

Accommodating Employees With and Without Disabilities

File(s)
Nishii5_Accomodating_employees_with_or_without_disabilities.pdf (1013.71 KB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/75036
Collections
ILR Articles and Chapters
Faculty Publications - Labor Relations, Law, and History
ILR Outreach
Author
Schur, Lisa
Nishii, Lisa Hisae
Adya, Meera
Kruse, Douglas
Bruyere, Susanne M. Dr.
Blanck, Peter
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.

Date Issued
2014-01-01
Keywords
accommodations
•
disability
•
work-life balance
Related DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21607
Rights
Required Publisher Statement: © Wiley. Final version published as: Schur, L., Nishii, L., Adya, M., Kruse, D., Bruyère, S. M., & Blanck, P. (2016). Accommodating employees with and without disabilities [Electronic version]. Human Resource Management, 53(4), 593-621. doi: 10.1002/hrm.21607 Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Type
article

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