| Employers play a critical role in addressing the high unemployment rate of persons with disabilities. However, conflicting information exists regarding employers' views of the work capabilities of persons with disabilities.; The results of this study, conducted with 43 large businesses, provide a description of employers' actual experiences with workers with disabilities and their knowledge and utilization of accommodations. Human resource professionals and supervisors within the same businesses were surveyed to identify: barriers to employment for persons with disabilities; the extent to which organizations were aware of and provided accommodations; organizational polices and practices pertaining to workers with disabilities; and their perceptions of the work performance of employees with disabilities.; The relationship between several organizational or individual variables was also analyzed. The results were significant for the following work performance measures: timeliness of arrival and departure (p = .048, df = 251, p < .05), attendance (p = .006, df = 250, p < .05), punctuality (p = .007, df = 251, p < .05), and consistency in task (p = .045, df = 250, p .05). Significant differences were also found (t = .0288, df = 255, p < .05) between supervisors with personal experiences relating to disability and supervisors with no personal experience relating to disability regarding their perceptions of employee work performance.; Additionally, employers revealed the pivotal role that human resource professionals play in supporting persons with disabilities in the workplace.; The study also revealed several general findings: (1) workers with disabilities are capable and productive employees; (2) employers experience difficulty recruiting applicants with disabilities and believe their organizations could do more to hire persons with disabilities; (3) employers are confident in their ability to meet the support needs of workers with disabilities; (4) characteristics of supervisors of workers with disabilities influence their perceptions of the work performance of employees with disabilities; (5) employers rely almost exclusively on internal organizational resources to address the needs of workers with disabilities; and (6) employers have engaged in a variety of activities in an effort to integrate persons with disabilities in their workforce and have responded favorably to the employment regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
