Examining the Experiences of Employees with Disabilities during Workplace Socialization

1
Examining the Experiences of
Employees with Disabilities during Workplace
Socialization

• Jamie S. Mitus, Ph.D., C.R.C., L.C.P.C.,
  L.M.H.C.Hofstra University
• Employment Services Systems Research Training
  Center

2
PRESENTING ISSUE

• High unemployment rates continue to be a
  significant problem for individuals with
  disabilities in part because of job tenure
  issues.
• (Kirsch, 2000 Louis Harris Associates, 2000)

3
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

• Of 2500 rehabilitation clients successfully
  placed into a job, 25 were unemployed within 3
  months following case closure and 50 were
  unemployed 12 months after case closure.
• (Gibbs, 1990)

4
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

• Some researchers have reported an average job
  tenure of 15 to 28 months among employees with
  disabilities, yet the national median job tenure
  reported by the Department of Labor was 4 years
  in 2006.
• (Allaire, Niu, LaValley, 2005 Department of
  Labor, 2006 Mueser, Becker, Wolfe, 2001)

5
ACCOUNTING FOR WORKPLACE SOCIALIZATION (WPS)

• The rehabilitation profession needs to
• Direct more attention to the post-hiring phase
• Assess for WPS among employees with disabilities
• Assess how WPS influences employment outcomes

6
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• RQ1 What are the WPS experiences of
  employees with disabilities?
• RQ2 How does WPS influence employment outcomes
  for employees with disabilities?

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HYPOTHESIS

• H1 WPS will significantly influence the job
  satisfaction, job tension, workplace support,
  and sense of belonging in the organization of
  employees with disabilities.

8
METHODS

• Participants are referred by rehabilitation
  providers participating in the Consortium for
  Employment Success (CES)
• Participants are screened to confirm they meet
  eligibility criteria

9
METHODS

• Four Data Collection Points
• Prior to employment demographics consent forms
  
• First month on the job WPS experience variables
• Third month on the job WPS experience variables
• Sixth month on the job Employment outcome
  variables

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VARIABLES

• Demographic variables
• WPS (IV)
• Informal socialization experience
• Workplace communication
• Employment outcomes (DV)
• Job satisfaction
• Job tension
• Workplace support
• Sense of belonging

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MEASURES OF INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
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MEASURES OF DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Measures found in Fields, (2002)
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DATA ANALYSIS

• Factor analyses conducted on Informal
  Socialization Scale Message Content Scale
• Tests of assumptions conducted for multiple
  regression
• Transformations conducted on variables with
  non-normal distributions
• Mean imputations used for random missing data on
  some variables four cases excluded due to
  significant missing data

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DATA ANALYSIS

• Power for regression analysis .74
  (? 2.62 d.30 ? 0.05 N 76)
• Descriptive statistics used to describe the
  sample answer RQ1
• Bi-variate correlations linear hierarchical
  multiple regressions used to answer RQ2
  evaluate H1

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SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS
16
SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS
17
SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS
18
SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS
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RQ1 WPS Experiences
Informal Socialization Scale 4 Point-Likert
Scale (1 never to 4 all of the time)
lowest highest mean averages for subscales
20
RQ1 WPS Experiences
Message Content Scale 4 Point-Likert Scale (1
not at all to 4 a lot) lowest highest
mean averages for subscales
21
RQ2 H1 WPS Employment Outcomes
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level
(2-tailed). Correlation is significant at the
0.01 level (2-tailed).
22
RQ2 H1 WPS Employment Outcomes
Linear Multiple Regressions for the Dependent
Variables
23
RQ2 H1 WPS Employment Outcomes
Hierarchical Multiple Regressions for the
Dependent Variables
Model 1 Workplace Communication Model 2
Workplace Communication Informal Socialization
24
RQ2 H1 WPS Employment Outcomes
Hierarchical Multiple Regressions for the
Dependent Variables
Model 1 Workplace Communication Model 2
Workplace Communication Informal Socialization
25
CONCLUSIONS

• Employees with disabilities appear to have a
  moderate amount of group-oriented experiences
  when learning a new job but are far less likely
  to participate in externally-based social
  experiences.
• While orienting to a new job, employees with
  disabilities are far more likely to receive
  communications about their job and the
  organization than communications that are
  socially-oriented.

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CONCLUSIONS

• Informal socialization and workplace
  communication appear to positively influence the
  job satisfaction, perceptions of workplace
  supports, job tension, and a sense of belonging
  of new employees with disabilities.
• Workplace communication, however, may have
  greater influence than informal socialization on
  job satisfaction, perceptions of workplace
  support, and sense of belonging.

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CONCLUSIONS

• Socially based workplace communication seems to
  hold more weight on employment outcomes than
  job/organization communication.
• Externally-oriented social experiences seem to
  positively affect ones sense of belonging in the
  workplace.
• Trial-by-fire experiences seem to increase the
  level of job tension felt by new employees with a
  disabilities.

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IMPLICATIONS

• Rehabilitation professionals should educate
  employers on how to incorporate practices that
  promote WPS via informal socialization and
  workplace communication that is inclusive of
  employees with disabilities.
• When educating employers, rehabilitation
  professionals should specifically highlight the
  importance of incorporating practices that
  provide socially-oriented experiences and
  socially-based communication.

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IMPLICATIONS

• Rehabilitation professionals should work more
  closely with employees with disabilities during
  their initial WPS period on the job.
• During this time, an emphasis should be directed
  more heavily towards teaching the employee how to
  proactively seek out and participate in
  socially-oriented experiences and conversations.

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REFERENCES

• Allaire, S.H., Niu, J., LaValley, M.P. (2005).
  Employment and satisfaction outcomes from a job
  retention intervention delivered to persons with
  chronic diseases. Rehabilitation Counseling
  Bulletin, 48 (2), 100-109.
• Department of Labor (2006). Employee Tenure
  Summary. Retrieved July 11, 2007 from
  http//www.bls.gov/new.release/tenure.nr0.htm
• Fields, D.L. (2002). Taking the measure of work
  A guide to validated scales for organizational
  research and diagnosis. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage
  Publications Inc.
• Gibbs, W. (1990). Alternative measures to
  evaluate the impact of vocational rehabilitation
  services. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 34,
  33-43.
• Gilbride, D., Thomas,J.R., Stensrud, R. (1998).
  Beyond status 26 Development of an instrument to
  measure the quality of placements in the
  state-federal program. Journal of Applied
  Rehabilitation Counseling, 29 (1), pp.3-7.

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REFERENCES

• Hart, Z.P. Miller, V.D. (2005). Context and
  message content during organizational
  socialization. Human Communication Research, 31,
  295-309.
• Hart, Z.P. (2004). Report on 2004 Northern
  Kentucky University Summer Faculty Fellowship.
  Lakeside Park, KY Northern Kentucky University.
• Hart, Z.P. (2000). Three competing models of
  communication during organizational socialization
  Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan
  State University, Lansing.
• Kirsch, B. (2000). Factors associated with
  employment for mental health consumers.
  Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 24 (1),
  13-21.
• Louis Harris and Associates, (2000). Closing the
  Gap. Washington, DC National Organization on
  Disability. Retrieved July 7, 2004 from
  www.nod.org/content.cfm
• Mueser, K.T., Becker, D.R., Wolfe, R. (2001).
  Supported employment, job preferences, job tenure
  and satisfaction. Journal of Mental Health, 10
  (4), 411-417.