Why Employers Dont Hire People with Disabilities

1
Why Employers Dont Hire People with Disabilities

• DBTAC National Research Conference
• Arlington, VA, October 27, 2009
• DBTAC-Pacific ADA Center
• Lita Jans, PhD
• Research Project Director
• Erica C. Jones, MPH
• Principal Investigator Director
• Steve Kaye, PhD
• Research Director

Funded by National Institute on Disability
Rehabilitation Research Grant H133A060098
2
Background

• Previous research on employer attitudes towards
  PWD paints a rosy picture
• CEOs HR staff report positive attitudes toward
  PWD in surveys
• Employers say accommodations dont cost too much
• Employers financially benefit from retaining PWD
• However, employment levels are persistently low,
  especially for those with severe disability.
• Are previous findings biased due to sample
  selection and social desirability?

3
Research questions hypotheses

• Fear of legal and financial liability is a
  primary barrier to employers hiring, retaining,
  and accommodating workers with disabilities.
• Attitudes of employers that are resistant to
  complying with the ADA can be investigated via
  techniques that minimize social desirability
  bias.
• Strategies and policy solutions endorsed by
  ADA-resistant employers can allay their fears and
  promote better employment outcomes.

4
Method/approach

• DBTAC-Pacific ADA Center and affiliates regularly
  approached by ADA-resistant employers forced to
  seek disability training or advice
• Included if known or reputed to be resistant to
  the ADA and hiring people with disabilities
• Directly expressed resistance
• Have a reputation for resistance
• Have been referred because of resistance (e.g.
  lawsuits, settlement, enforced education)

5
Method/approach (2)

• Study targeted managers and HR staff from ADA
  resistant employers attending trainings
• Early survey development Direct questioning
  increased defensiveness and socially desirable
  answers
• Adapted techniques from literature on indirect
  (structured projective) question techniques that
  reduced social desirability bias in related
  studies
• Pilot study using indirect questioning revealed
  more openness in expressing fears and biases, and
  engaging in possible solutions

6
Method/approach (3)

• Survey designed to reduce social desirability
  bias via indirect questioning
• Instead of asking directly about the attitudes
  and practices of the respondents, we asked
• Why some employers dont hire people with
  disabilities?
• What would help? Employers would be more likely
  to hire and retain workers with disabilities if
  they had.

7
Respondents

• 463 surveys from 38 training sessions throughout
  Region IX (19 surveys in Spanish)
• Completely anonymous researchers had no contact
  with nor knowledge of which employers included
• Wide range of types of employers, including
  small, medium and large companies from a range of
  different industries, as well as non-profits and
  government organizations
• Responses cannot be distinguished by size or type
  of organization

8
Questionnaire format

• Two-part questionnaire
• Reasons for not hiring and retaining PWD
• Employer and public policy strategies for
  increasing hiring/retention of PWD
• Part I has 2 sets of 12-14 statements, prefaced
  by
• Thinking about employers in general and not
  necessarily the organization you work for, please
  give us your opinion about the following
  statements.
• Part II has 2 sets of 8 strategies, and a similar
  preface
• Both parts have space for verbatim other
  responses and general feedback.

9
Hiring Example statements
10
Hiring More examples
11
Principle barriers to hiring
12
Other barriers to hiring
13
Retention Example statements
14
Principal barriers to retention
15
Other barriers to retention
16
Verbatim responses

• About 300 verbatim responses on hiring/retention
• Success in using indirect questioning to elicit
  fears and prejudices and even blatantly
  discriminatory comments
• Although asked about some employers, a number
  of respondents openly discussed own experiences,
  using I statements
• I have had no person with a known disability
  apply
• I have not met that many people with
  disabilities..

17
Most frequent comments

• Most frequent comments echoed survey reasons
• Concerns about job performance, qualifications,
  attendance
• Cant do the job 100
• Employee with disability is not productive
  because he or she always calls in sick.
• Employers dont know or understand
  disability/accommodations need training
• Supervisors don't know how to provide
  reasonable accommodations.
• Just unsure as to how to deal with them in
  general.

18
Most frequent comments (2)

• 3. Concerns about costs (accommodations,
  insurance, accessibility)
• It will cost more to train and supervise
  employees with disabilities
• I think of added insurance it would take to
  insure an employee who might not be able to do
  the total job.
• 4. Concerns about liability to lawsuits
  complaints
• A person with a disability is problematic and
  might cause a lot of problems, and it is not easy
  to dismiss a person who has a disability.
• Workers may threaten lawsuits.

19
Other reasons

• Extra time and paperwork hassles
• If the workers performance drops, it puts
  strain on the business. This causes employers
  to spend time on issues they have never had to
  address before.
• It is a big hassle to hire a person with
  disabilities because there are a lot of
  government regulations to follow.
• Employers fear of the unknown (very common
  phrase)

20
Other reasons (2)

• Employers uncomfortable around PWD (or think that
  customers will be)
• (PWD) don't fit into office chemistry
• Concern about how the employer's customers or
  clients will relate to a disabled employee
• Don't want to see a handicapped person
• Employers who use receptionists don't want to
  hire people with disabilities for those
  positions

21
Other reasons (3)

• Think that people with disabilities have attitude
  of entitlement
• Some people with disabilities expect employers
  and coworkers to give them special treatment.
• The applicant pool rarely includes qualified
  individuals with disabilities and sometimes
  people with disabilities feel they should be
  considered even if under-qualified.

22
Employer strategies Examples
23
Employer strategies to improve hiring/retention
24
Policy strategies Examples
25
Policy strategies to improve hiring/retention
26
Verbatim Comments

• About 120 verbatim responses on solutions
• The most frequent comments echoed and reinforced
  survey responses
• Education and familiarization with PWD and
  disability issues
• Education is the silver bullet here.
• Testimonies of successful employees with
  disabilities via media or brochures
• More positive experiences with employees with
  disabilities would assist in breaking down
  stereotypes and barriers.

27
Verbatim comments (2)

• Hiring incentives (tax breaks or subsidies)
• Externally funded incentives that promote
  hiring of individuals with disabilities
• Federal subsidies for employers who hire the
  disabled or tax credits
• Accommodation subsidies
• Tax credits for providing reasonable
  accommodations - not tax deductions
• Help with cost of equipment and/or other
  reasonable accommodations

28
Comments Other strategies

• Improve corporate culture
• Partnership with ADA organizations to create a
  cohesive and accommodating work environment
• Training for all employers that changes
  organizational perception of disability
• Preparation of workers with disabilities
• Provide coaching or mentoring for the disabled
  applicant who later becomes an employee
• Job coaches

29
Why dont employers hire, retain accommodate
people with disabilities?

• More than 80 of managers HR staff at
  ADA-resistant employers say
• Additional employer burden They dont know how
  to deal with disability accommodation
• Concern over costs They think there is a high
  cost to hiring and especially accommodating PWD
• Fear of legal liability They avoid
  hiring/retaining PWD for fear of being sued if
  the relationship sours

30
What employer strategies would improve hiring
retention of PWD?

• Managers HR staff at ADA-resistant employers
  say they need
• More and better training on disability
• Company-wide approach to disability and
  accommodation, including
• Explicit guidelines
• Disability and accommodation expertise (internal
  and external)
• Centralized funding of accommodations within the
  organization

31
What public policy approaches would improve
hiring retention of PWD?

• Managers HR staff at ADA-resistant employers
  endorse these public policy changes
• No-cost external disability accommodation
  problem solving
• Government help with accommodation costs
• Tax breaks and salary subsidies
• Mediation procedures for resolving disability
  accommodation issues before they result in
  lawsuits or external complaints