Employer Perspectives on Retention and
Advancement in the New Economy:
Bridging Research and Practice
Susanne M. Bruyère, smb23@cornell.edu
Judy Young, jy335@cornell.edu
Employment Disability Institute
ILR School
Cornell University
2012 National Employment Conference
The New Economy: Rethink, Realign, Reinvent
December 5 - 7, 2012
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Presentation Overview
• A few facts on the new economy
• Implications for employer/business
functioning
• Implications for retention and advancement of
employees with disabilities
• Related research on facilitative practices for
retention
• Implications for vocational rehabilitation
practice and administration/service delivery
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A Few Facts on the New Economy
What do we know about the “new economy?”
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Job growth in different industries
Mismatch between jobs and workers
Fewer jobs and more part-time work
The increased value of higher education
Increased use of flex-place and telecommuting
Changing workforce demographics
Increased cost of health care
Technology changes
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We are Manufacturing Money, Not Goods
Source: Just the Facts: Why we can’t go back to the old economy. Retrieved from: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-new-economy/just-the-facts-why-we-can2019t-go-back-to-the-old-economy
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Mismatch Between Jobs and Workers
• Employers were asked about specific skills in which they find
today’s workforce deficient for high school and four-year
college graduates:
o Writing in English: 72 percent; 26 percent
o Foreign language: 62 percent; 41 percent
o Mathematics: 54 percent; 12 percent
o History/Geography: 46 percent; 17 percent
o Government/Economics: 46 percent; 17 percent
o Science: 45 percent; 13 percent
o Reading comprehension: 38 percent; 5 percent
o English language: 21 percent; 4 percent
Source: The Conference Board, Blueprint for Jobs in the 21st Century: HR Policy Association
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Decline in Full-time Work
Numbers of full time and part-time workers, 2006-2012, in millions.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.
Underemployment Trends
Source: Gallup Poll (2012, March).
Young Workers Earnings by Education
Note: Full-time, full-year workers, age 25-34.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The Condition of Education. Figure 49-1
Trends in Telework
Source: Worldatwork (2011). Telework 2011: A WorldatWork special report. Washington DC: Author.
Labor Force Participation – Older Workers
Source: Leonesio, M., Bridges, B., Gesumaria, R., & Del Bene, L. (2012). The Increasing labor force participation of older workers and its effect on income of the aged. Social Security Bulletin, 72 (1), 60-77.
Employer Healthcare Burden
Source: Axeen, S. & Carpenter, E. (2008). The Employer Health care burden. New American Foundation health Policy Program: Issue Brief. Retrieved from www.newamerica.net/health_policy and
The “New Economy” and the
Proliferation of New Technologies
• These new technologies have meant three things
for employer practices (especially those under the
domain of HR):
o More virtual/distance/remote workers and work
teams/relationships
o Faster/faster everything. Ever-increasing productivity
o More emphasis and expectation of employee data
analysis in HR practices
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Data: More Emphasis and Expectation of
Employee Data Analysis in HR practices
Workforce analysis is more intense than ever
• Employers are analyzing their own workforce data more intensively than ever
before.
• Researchers are analyzing public-use and employer-specific data more
intensively than ever before.
Construction of data sets matters:
• Are data collected on people with disabilities?
• How is disability defined?
• Within companies, is the culture conducive to self-declaration?
Out of (data) sight  Out of analysis  Out of mind 
Practices not fully inclusive of people with disabilities
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Implications for
Employer/Business Functioning?
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Hiring practices?
Productivity expectations?
Performance management and metrics?
Retention/advancement strategies?
Workplace culture?
Supply chains and globalization?
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Cornell Research on Company-Specific Practices –
Qualitative “Focus Group” Studies
Cornell, EDI and CAHRS, and The Conference Board
• Employers are not collecting data or doing analysis
(engagement, pay, retention, etc.) of employees with
disabilities as robustly as they do regarding gender
and race/ethnicity
• Need to build confidence and awareness among
employers to seek this data
• Build good workplace culture for disability disclosure
Barrington, 2012.
Employer Practices RRTC
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http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/p-emprrtc.cfm
Implications of “New Economy”
Workplaces for PWD?
•
Remote/virtual work – how do we insure people with
disabilities are not marginalized when they are not “present” at
the worksite?
•
Productivity – as productivity demands are increasing and
“productivity layoffs” are happening all around us, how do we
debunk myths about people with disabilities being less
productive?
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HR Metrics – how do we expand public data sets and
encourage employers in their company-specific data to more
fully include disability status ?
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Implications for Retention and
Advancement of Employees
with Disabilities
• How might this impact retention and
advancement of employees with disabilities?
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Workplace Climate
• Successful companies make it a priority to create
a workplace climate that embraces and
encourages diversity
• Organizations with climates of trust and
inclusion allow for open dialogue, permitting
employees to better plan and control their
outcomes
• Movement toward eliminating disability and also
age-based discrimination in the workplace
• Internal (DM) and external resources VR and
CRPs) can contribute positively to a workplace
culture that succeeds in retaining older workers
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Benefits of Inclusive Climates
1. Across multiple samples, data show members of historically
marginalized groups (e.g., women, ethnic minorities, people
with disabilities, aging workers) experience less discrimination
and overall better work experiences in inclusive units
2. Demographic-based differences in experiences of “fit,”
perceived fairness, harassment, and perceived organizational
support commonly seen in inclusive units enable better group
functioning
– Higher cohesion, better information exchange
– Less conflict and miscommunication
– More creativity, higher financial performance
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People with Disabilities
Employees with disability experience:
• Less “fit” between their skills and demands of the job
• Less empowerment on the job
• Less (perceived) organizational support
• Lower levels of procedural and interactional justice during the
accommodation process
• Work arrangements that are less fair (especially fairness of job
responsibilities & access to mentors)
• Lower quality relationships with their managers
• Coworkers’ and managers’ behaviors to be less inclusive
Perhaps therefore:
• Lower organizational commitment & job satisfaction
• But turnover intentions are not any higher
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Experiences are Better in Inclusive Units
• Individuals with disabilities who work in
inclusive climates report significantly
– Greater success at having their accommodation
requests granted
– Greater coworker support of their accommodations
– Better experiences of procedural and interactional
justice during accommodations
– Lower levels of disability harassment/discrimination
– Higher organizational commitment and satisfaction
– Lower turnover intentions
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Experiences are Better for Employees
with Disabilities who Enjoy High Quality
Relationships with Their Managers
• Individuals with disabilities who are included in
their manager’s “in-group” report:
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Higher fit between skills and demands of job
Higher empowerment
Fairer treatment during the accommodation process
Higher organizational commitment, satisfaction, and
willingness to engage in citizenship behaviors
– Lower turnover intentions
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Importance of Disclosure for Employers
• Increase awareness of where accommodations may
improve employee productivity
• Indicator of employee comfort level with sharing
personal information
• Federal Executive Order 13548 -- Increasing Federal
Employment of Individuals with Disabilities
• Proposed rule to revise Section 503 of the
Rehabilitation Act
Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation,
Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère.
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288
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“Very important” factors, when deciding to
disclose a disability to an employer
Persons with a disability
(N=598)
Need for accommodation
68.2
Supportive supervisor relationship
63.5
Disability friendly workplace
56.8
Active disability recruiting
50.5
Knowing of other successes
49.9
Disability in diversity statement
48.9
Belief in new opportunities
40.7
Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation,
Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère.
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http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288
Choosing to Disclose: Other Factors
• Company offers flexible work opportunities
• Disability awareness/anti-stigma training offered to all
employees
• “HR personnel who are familiar with disabilities,
accommodations and understand it is a goal for
companies.”
• “Knowing the employer has a fair system in place to
resolve complaints.”
• Disability-related Corporate Social Responsibility
Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation,
Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère.
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http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288
“Very important” factors when deciding to NOT disclose a
disability to an employer
Persons with a disability
(N=598)
Risk of being fired/not hired
Employer may focus on disability
Risk of losing health care
Fear of limited opportunities
Supervisor may not be supportive
Risk being treated differently
Risk being viewed differently
No impact on job ability
Desire for privacy
73.0
62.0
61.5
61.1
60.1
57.8
53.8
44.0
27.9
Emerging Employment Issues for People with Disabilities: Disability Disclosure, Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation,
Use of Job Applicant Screeners by Sarah von Schrader, Valerie Malzer, William Erickson, & Susanne Bruyère.
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http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/1288
Implications for Vocational
Rehabilitation Practice
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Implications for VR
Administration/Service Delivery?
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Research on Public-Use Data, Preliminary Findings
Zafar Nazarov, EDI, Cornell
• Analysis needs to do a better job of analyzing those “dropping out”
• “Drop outs” from VR system differ by race/ethnicity: White VR clients with
lower potential wages and African-American VR clients with higher potential
wages are more likely to withdraw from the VR system.
• Wage gap could be decreased by promoting policies that are directed to
promote skill formation of African-American consumers.
Kevin F. Hallock, Xin Jin and Linda Barrington, ICS, Cornell
• Importance of include TOTAL COMPENSATION in analysis
• Pay gap for people with disabilities narrows, if we compute broader
compensation measure including benefits.
• Little to no research existing in this area in part because commonly used public
data sets don’t have good benefits data or strong measures of disability status.
Employer Practices RRTC
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http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/p-emprrtc.cfm
Related Resources
• Employer Assistance and Resource network
(AskEARN) – www.askearn.org
• Job Accommodation Network - http://askjan.org/
• Disability Management Employers Coalition
(www.dmec.org)
• HR (human resources) Tips – www.hrtips.org
• Disability statistics – www.disabilitystatistics.org
• Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/
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Catalogue of Disability and
Compensation Variables