Disability disconnect: Survey finds a big engagement gap with disabled workers
At a time when many companies are championing diversity, equity and inclusion, there are still areas in need of improvement.
A ten-year study on workers with disabilities found that such workers are less engaged, and rank their work experiences lower, than workers without disabilities.
The new study was released by Global Disability Inclusion, in collaboration with Mercer, and underlines the challenges faced by disabled people, who represent 15% of the population. The project collected more than 12 million responses from workers around the world and found an “engagement gap” that was significant in a range of areas.
Related: The road to inclusion: Empowering employees with disabilities
“In our research investigating employment experience across diversity groups, people with disabilities have the least favorable experience by far; this includes differences by race, gender, age, and sexual orientation,” according to Dr. Peter J. Rutigliano, Senior Principal, Mercer. “Unfortunately, people with disabilities have largely been ignored by corporate engagement surveys.”
Disabled workers lack equity in the workplace
At a time when many companies are championing the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), there are still areas in need of improvement, as this study shows. The survey asked workers with disabilities about their work experiences, and found a lack of equity in the workplace.
For example, when asked if they felt they can express their ideas and views without negative consequences, there was a 12-point negative gap between disabled workers and all other employees. When asked if their company took an interest in the well-being of their employees, a 9-point gap was found. When asked if they felt valued by their company, the survey found a 7-point gap between disabled employees and all other workers.
When asked to respond to the statement, “My company treats employees fairly regardless of their age, family/marital status, gender, disability, race/color, religion or sexual orientation,” the disabled worker affirmative response was 10 points lower than the response from all other employees. A similar statement, “My company creates an environment where people of diverse backgrounds can succeed,” saw an eight-point lower response between disabled workers and all other employees.
Leadership and recognition
As with so many areas of DEI, company culture from the top down and management style seem to have a big impact how this group of workers perceive their inclusion in the workplace.
When asked about the statement, “I receive recognition from management when I do a good job,” disabled workers agreement was 12 points lower than that of all workers. There was an 11-point negative gap on the statement “I am appropriately involved in decisions about my work,” and a similar 9-point gap on the statement “my job makes good use of my skills and abilities.”
Slightly smaller gaps were found in the area of workplace achievement, but there was a six-point negative gap on agreement with the statement “I feel my career goals can be met at my company.” Disabled workers’ affirmative response also was six points lower on the statement, “my immediate manager recognizes me when I do a good job,” compared to all workers.
In addition, disabled workers responses showed an eight-point lower gap on the statement “I can report unethical behavior or practices without fear of retaliation,” when compared with all workers.
“Employees with disabilities are more disconnected from senior leaders,” the report said. “They are more fearful to come forward to raise concerns or create a perception they are complaining about their work. Individuals with disabilities don’t want to ‘rock the boat.’”
One interesting finding was that negative gaps in responses on questions about immediate supervisors were less substantial than in other areas, signaling that disabled workers viewed their immediate managers in relatively similar ways as other workers. The authors of the study suggest that this might be linked to disability disclosure—since workers are most likely to first discuss their disability with their immediate manager. “We have found people who disclose their disability are more engaged with the organization than those who have not disclosed,” they write.
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