Enabling (dis)ability at work: Employer engagement in hiring and retaining workers with disabilities, including its contributions to employability

Abstract

Workers with disabilities (WWDs) represent a largely untapped talent pool in the labor market. Despite many WWDs being -to a certain extent- able and willing to work, their employment rates remain disproportionately low. Employers play a crucial role in promoting WWDs’ labor market participation. This dissertation explores the role of employers in hiring and retaining WWDs in three steps. First, employers face several barriers when hiring and retaining WWDs, such as a lack of knowledge how disabilities may affect work or administrative burdens. This study investigates how employers can be supported in hiring and retaining WWDs, focusing on three types of support: public employment services, private labor market intermediaries, and internal organizational support. Using the COM-B model (Capabilities, Opportunities, and Motivation), the research identifies how employers select sources of support to engage in hiring and retaining WWDs. Second, when employers are engaged in hiring and retaining WWDs, employers may vary in the way they do so. This dissertation investigates the heterogeneity in HR practices to recruitment, training and development, and workplace accommodations. These practices are shaped by organizational contexts, such as mission and vision, the education level of jobs, and employers’ perception on the added value of WWDs. Third, this dissertation investigates how, from the perspective of WWDs, organizational resources contribute to their employability. This dissertation focuses on HR practices (training and development, workplace accommodation, and social integration) and social support (from line managers, co-workers and embedded job coaches). The Self-Determination Theory explains why these HR-practices enhance employability by fulfilling autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs.