Health and disability in the workplace

How do employees with health conditions, impairments, or other disabilities get treated at work? There has been substantial attention paid to the low employment rate of people with disabilities, but much less to the experiences of employed people with disabilities. In this paper we report some findings from a large project on disability and corporate culture funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, using employee survey data from six companies. We focus on perceived overall treatment received by employees as a result of their health conditions, impairments, or disabilities; how they feel they were treated in the accommodation process; and how this depends on whether the onset of the condition occurred while the employee was at the company. We also examine how often managers report that occupational health and medical personnel are consulted in accommodations decisions, or make the final decisions themselves. The analysis has begun on over 6000 employee surveys from the six companies, and we are in the process of collecting more surveys from a seventh company. Findings point out the importance of the role of supervisors in inclusion and job satisfaction for all employees, particularly those with disabilities. The implications for professionals working in public health, particularly with a focus on workplace and chronic health and disability issues, are explored.