Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Labor market discrimination against people with disabilities by employers is an ongoing issue. Lack of information appears to be a causal factor of employers’ negative attitude to the labor market integration of people with disabilities.
OBJECTIVE:
This study is intended to: a) examine the attitudes of 40 private sector employers regarding hiring and integrating in their business people with visual impairments, and b) explore the variation of the recorded attitudes after the application of a short informative program.
METHODS
A relative structured questionnaire of 15 closed type questions was chosen as the research instrument and was distributed to the participants both before and after the application of the informative program, which took place via the demonstration of a structured booklet.
RESULTS:
The results of this research initially revealed negative attitude of the employers in most of the questions. Post the informative program resulted however significant differences in the responses of the employers on most of the questions in regard to their intention of integrating people with visual impairments into their business.
CONCLUSION:
It turns out, that through briefing is possible to change people’s behavior, as the provision of information may result in the revision of existing attitudes.
Introduction
Discrimination against people with disabilities in the labor market by employers is an ongoing issue (Fraser & Shrey, 1986; Kiernan & Conley, 1989; O’Day, 1999; Wolffe & Spungin, 2002) as it is still questionaible whether workfare policy promotes equal employment opportunities for them (Harris et al., 2013). Cases of discrimination against people with visual impairments from their employers concern mainly in denying their engagement because of their impairments, in their dismissal and in the rejection of the requests for reasonable adjustments to the workplace that they raise (Chan et al., 2005).
It is noted that, according to surveys, the more noticeable and obvious is the disability, the greater is the degree of discrimination felt by people with that disability (Gouvier et al., 1991; Hahn, 1984). Thus, for example employers are presented to face partly negative employees with visual impairments (blind and low vision), and to consider them less likely to perform their work satisfactorily (Gilbride et al., 2000). It is supported of course and the opposite view, which considers sensory impairments, including visual impairments, to have the least possible negative impact on employment rates of all the other forms of disabilities (La Grow, 2004). If, however, employers’ requirements are satisfied and they do consider that the needs of their company are covered, then the disability of any kind ceases to play a prominent role in the decision of employers to hire persons with disabilities (European Centre for Environmental Research & Training, 2007; Luecking, 2008).
Encouraging is presented the fact that employers henceforth are more positive than before towards the employment of people with disabilities (Hernandez, Keys, & Balcazar, 2000) and more willing ‘to do the right thing’ in the frames of social responsibility (Graffam et al., 2002). Despite all these, fears and concerns, mainly due to the lack of information regarding the skills and the abilities of people with visual or other form of impairment, continue to disrupt the operation of the intake (Cimera, 2006; Hernandez et al., 2000; Luecking, 2008) usually culminating in a negative attitude by the employers to the possibility of hiring employees with disabilities (Leonard, 2002; O’Day, 1999; Wolffe & Candela, 2002; Wolffe & Spungin, 2002).
Specifically, employers do not know if hiring an employee with disabilities will benefit or harm their business finances (Cimera, 2006). Employers are intercepted by the unknown and unspecified costs of the reasonable adjustments to the workplace, which will be required for the smooth work adjustment of persons with disabilities (Peck & Kirkbride, 2001; Schartz, Hendricks, & Blanck, 2006) and especially of persons with visual impairments (Wolffe & Candela, 2002), although it has been shown that workplace accomodations for persons with disabilities in their majority are not costly (Solovieva & Walls, 2013). Employers are concerned and with regard to the time required to get assistive technology, as delays have been proven to have a negative impact on the income of the employers (Crudden et al., 2002). According to the survey of Chan et al. (2010) in a sample of 138 human resources managers in regard to the employment factors for people with disabilities, the knowledge of workplace accomodations was found to be one of the most important predictors of their intention to hire individuals with disabilities.
In addition, employers raise questions about the ability of individuals with disabilities to carry out their employment responsibilities and fear the possibility of having to make concessions themselves in efficiency and productivity and to have to accept the existence of employees’ two-speed, with or without disabilities, for the same work (Hernandez et al., 2000; Peck & Kirkbride, 2001; Unger, 2002). According to Copeland, Chan, Bezyak, and Fraser (2010) high levels of work experience with people with disabilities can positively affect employers’ beliefs regarding their productivity.
Finally, reflection cause also safety issues of employees with visual impairments in the workplace (Kang, 2013; Wolffe & Candela, 2002) during the execution of simple actions of everyday work, such as paper cutting, or of more complex tasks such as the manufacture of things in factory and the handling of motor operated tools or during an emergency such as an earthquake (Wolffe, 1998).
Is therefore required a strategy to reduce the aforementioned concerns of employers regarding hiring persons with visual impairments (Wolffe & Candela, 2002) and employers to target the ultimate benefit of the whole affair rather than the costs or the impairment (Luecking & Mooney, 2002). Employers’ knowledge regarding the strength and weaknesses of individuals with disabilities, as well as their consciousness regarding the workplace support that they should provide to these individuals, appear to contribute to the elimination of employers’ negative perceptions and to the creation of more positive attitudes towards the employment of people with disabilities (Yusof, Ali, & Salleh, 2015). Drastic measures are proposed, such as a major information campaign in the media, par example of anti-smoking campaign that has a direct impact on the audience (O’Day, 1999) and also training programs (Stone & Colella, 1996) on all matters related to people with disabilities, which frighten other people or are misrepresented by them. The introduction of school science classes that will be carried out either by the schoolteachers themselves or by specialist teachers is even proposed (Hunt & Hunt, 2004). There are, however, and other various ways to assist employers in understanding the way persons with visual impairments work, such as booklets and websites, which describe how persons with visual impairments have access to information, use their computer and handle the daily routine of their office (American Foundation for the Blind, 2015; Wolffe, 1997; Wolffe & Candela, 2002).
The employers themselves report that they would be encouraged to hire an employee with disabilities, if they received persuasive information regarding the satisfactory performance of these employees, the increase of their productivity and the overall benefit of the company’s performance (Hartnett et al., 2011). Relative survey in a sample of 190 adult individuals, in which took place educational intervention in the form of an hourly briefing on the employment situation of people with disabilities, showed that the intervention significantly improved the attitudes of the sample towards people with disabilities (Hunt & Hunt, 2004).
The study
This study is based on the consideration that the change of the attitudes of employers is one of the most important steps that could take place, for the improvement of the employment situation of people with disabilities (Kennedy & Olney, 2001; Macy, 1996). The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of information on employers’ attitudes towards employees with visual impairments. Specifically, were examined the attitudes of the private sector employers regarding hiring people with visual impairments and the formation of the employers’ attitudes after the application to them of a short informative program.
Methods
Participants
The sample was randomly selected and consisted of 40 employers and human resources managers who were responsible for hiring employees in their companies, which were physiotherapy clinics, tutorials, banks, hotels, book stores, restaurants, flower shops, computer stores, gyms, beauty centers, hair salons, video clubs, internet cafes, supermarkets, tourist enterprises, optical stores, photocopies stores, car dealerships, coffee shops and clothing stores. The participants were residents of Thessaloniki (the second largest city of Greece, with a populations of around 800,000 citizens). The sample consisted of 27 (67.5%) men and 13 (32.5%) women, aged 27–60 years (mean = 42.11, SD = 9.26). The majority of participants, representing 28 (70%) of the participants owned or managed businesses in a corporate form and in particularly 10 (25%) of the participants owned or managed personal companies and 18 (45%) of the participants hold shares or manage capital companies, whereas the other 12 (30%) participants, possessed enterprises under the form of individual enterprise. Regarding the level of education, 1 (2.5%) of the participants have graduated from primary school, 2 (5%) were high school graduates, 14 (35%) of the participants have graduated from the lyceum and 23 (57.5%) of them had a tertiary education.
Procedures - Instruments
In the present study, the ethical principles of Declaration of Helsinki have been followed. Additionally, consent was obtained from the subjects, using the appropriate forms and according to the procedure suggested by the World Medical Association (World Medical Association [WMA], 2016).
The research took place at the participants’ enterprises in Thessaloniki. The process was completed in three parts. In the first part were investigated the attitudes of private sector employers on hiring people with visual impairments, without any prior education or training about the characteristics and capabilities of these individuals, the occupations pursued by people with visual impairment worldwide, the workplace adjustments required for their smooth labor market integration, the advantages of hiring employees with visual impairments and the existing state subsidies for employers who occupy employees with visual impairments.
In the second part took place a short informative program for the participants through the distribution of an informative booklet and in the third part was investigated the formation of the above recorded attitudes of the employers on the employment of people with visual impairments after the application of the short informative program to them.
In the first part the total of 40 participants filled out a pen and paper questionnaire with 15 closed type questions. The questionnaire was distributed to the participants, who were given a timeframe of two weeks for its completion from the date of the receipt of the questionnaire. The core of the questionnaire was consisted of 11 questions regarding participants’ attitudes towards the possibility of hiring people with visual impairments and the impact of these potential employments to the customers and to the other employees of their company. The questionnaire also included questions on the intention of the participants to inform themselves relatively and to do some actions in order to achieve the labor market integration of the employees with visual impairments. The eleven questions are presented in Table 1. Nine out of 11 questions consisted of 3 answers (a positive answer, a neutral answer, and a negative answer) and the rest 2 questions consisted of 2 answers (a positive answer and a negative answer). Participants were asked to indicate the preferred answer on each closed-ended question. Moreover, the questionnaire included 4 questions on participants’ gender, age, educational level and type of business (individual and corporate, personal or capital).
Comparison of the answers of the 40 participants before and after the informative program (P = % positive answers, N = % negative answers, NE = % neutral answers)
Comparison of the answers of the 40 participants before and after the informative program (P = % positive answers, N = % negative answers, NE = % neutral answers)
**p < 0.01.
The questionnaire used in the present study was based as for its structure on the questionnaires used on previous studies (Gilbride et al., 2000; Golub, 2003). Specifically, the questionnaire used in the present study was based on the questionnaire of Golub (2003) that was implemented to a sample of 8 employers in a survey conducted regarding the factors that contribute to the professional success of people with visual impairments. That questionnaire included inter alia questions regarding the number of people with visual impairments employed in the business, the reaction of the administration and of the remaining employees in the recruitment of persons with visual impairments and the provision to employees with visual impairments of labor ability development. The present questionnaire differs from the questionnaire used in the survey mentioned above, insofar as it is addressed both to employers who have and to employers who haven’t occupied in their business people with visual impairments and refers only to their intentions and expectations regarding their future collaboration with them. On the contrary, the survey questionnaire is addressed solely to employers with experience of employing people with visual impairments and refers to their relevant experiences. So, for example in our questionnaire is formulated the question “how do you expect, that the other employees will react in the possibility of hiring individuals with disabilities?”, while in the questionnaire of the relative research the same question is formulated “how have the other employees reacted to the possibility of hiring people with disabilities?”
Additionally, the tool/ questionnaire used in the present study, was based as for its structure on the questionnaire of Gilbride et al. (2000) which was implemented to a sample of 123 employers in a survey regarding the attitudes of employers in the possibility of hiring people with disabilities. This questionnaire included questions about the number of people with disabilities employed in the business and about the form of the impairment, the knowledge of the employers on labor market issues of people with disabilities, the measures which they took for a smoother labor adjustment of these individuals and the incentives combined with the equipment-services provided by the state for that purpose. Also, the questionnaire included a question on how difficult, on a scale from 1 (impossible) to 5 (no problem) believe the employers that it would be to hire people with a specific form of impairment. The present questionnaire differs from the questionnaire used in the survey mentioned above, insofar as it is addressed to employers with and without relevant experience of collaboration with employees with visual impairments and refers only to their expectations and intentions regarding the possibility of future collaboration with them. On the contrary, the survey questionnaire is addressed to employers who have hired employees with a form of impairment and concerns both their experiences of hiring them, as and their intentions regarding the possibility of future collaboration with them. It is noted that in the survey questionnaire only an individual question concerns specifically in the individuals with visual impairments.
In the second part was followed a program of briefings to the participating employers/ human resources managers on the work of people with visual impairments. The short informative program via an hourly training course was chosen as a method and to a previous research with relative aim which was the change of the attitude of potential future employers in employing people with disabilities (Hunt & Hunt, 2004). In the present study the informative program took place via a four-page informative booklet. The booklet was selected, as it is considered to be a properly informing way for people with visual impairments (American Foundation for the Blind, 2015; Wolffe & Candela, 2002), from other forms of briefing such as, e.g. seminars, because it is more feasible to be held under a scientific investigation and not under an initiative organized by the state, fastest and more economical. The participants were asked to read the booklet within a week. The time interval was set short so that it could be achieved an intense recollection of the data and therefore an intense impact of the information that would take place through the booklet. It is noted that the first part of the research followed the second one chronicle without calling any time in between, as with the collection of the questionnaires of the first part were also distributed the booklets of the second part.
The distributed booklet was entitled “Why hire a person with visual impairment” and consisted of the introduction and 4 chapters. The introduction of the booklet included information regarding the ability of people with visual impairments to perform virtually every task and also an indicative list of occupations pursued by people with visual impairment worldwide. It followed the first chapter, which included the characteristics of employees with visual impairments, as consistency, reliability and increased productivity at work. The second chapter was related to the workplace adjustments required for their smooth labor market integration, in which were mentioned relative examples of not expensive adjustments such as the adjustment of the lighting installation or the replacement of bulbs. The third chapter concerned the advantages of hiring employees with visual impairments, which related mainly to the recruitment of individuals willing and able and to the positive correspondence by the consumers in this action. Finally, it followed the fourth chapter, which dealt with the state subsidies for employers who occupied employees with visual impairments.
The structure of the informative booklet was based on data given by the American Foundation for the Blind (2015) and on previous research regarding the impact of information on employers (Chappel & Somers, 2010; Hartnett et al., 2011; Joffee, 1999; Wolffe, 1997; Wolffe & Candela, 2002).
Primarily, the structure of the informative booklet was based on a section of American Foundation for the Blind (2015), which is addressed to employers seeking information on employees with visual impairments and provides information on the abundance of professions that can practice people with visual impairments, their characteristics, their capabilities, the adaptations to their workplace and the relevant assistive technology. Also, it was based on the structure of the above mentioned informative intervention on employment of people with disabilities (Hunt & Hunt, 2004), which provided basic information on the definition of disability and its types, the obstacles which people with disabilities have to confront, the basic settings of the law regarding the matters of employment of these individuals, corrected mistaken assumptions about their work and provided guidance on how to interact with people with disabilities in the workplace.
Moreover, the structure of the booklet was based on the following admissions: a) In that the information should focus on the specific characteristics of people with disabilities, because when employers comprehend why a person might behave in a certain way, they are more likely to work with and support this person (Chappel & Somers, 2010), b) in that the information must relate to the adaptations and modifications of the workplace needed for the labor market integration of an employee with visual impairment, as this information is proven to increase the probability of the relative employment (Joffee, 1999; Wolffe, 1997; Wolffe & Candela, 2002), c) in that the employers who benefit from the overall experience of other employers who have worked with employees with visual impairments, are presented subsequently more positive in the potential inclusion in their workforce of individuals with disabilities (Wolffe & Candela, 2002), and d) in that the employers report, that they would be encouraged to hire employees with disabilities if they received persuasive information regarding their satisfactory performance, the increase of the productivity and the overall benefit to the company by their performance (Hartnett et al., 2011).
Thereafter, in the third part employers were asked to complete the same questionnaire, so that could be evaluated the effect of the informative booklet on the attitudes of the participants towards the possibility of employing people with visual impairments. For the completion of the questionnaires a time margin of two weeks was fixed.
Initially, the frequencies of answers on each question were calculated. Significant results were obtained by analyzing the responses of the 40 participants before and after the distribution of the informative booklet and by comparing them. In particular, it appears that after the briefing there has been an increase in the positive responses of participants to all the questions (as seen in Table 1).
Apart from the descriptive statistics, the wilcoxon non-parametric test was used in order to examine the differences in the participants’ responses before and after (repeated measurements) their briefing. For the 9 questions that were included 3 answers (positive, neutral, and negative), were added the negative and neutral answers and was created a ‘new answer’, the ‘negative or neutral answer’. So, finally were compared the following 2 answers: a) the positive and b) the negative or neutral.
Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed significant differences regarding the questions Q1 (Z = –3.000, p < 0.01), Q2 (Z = –4.899, p < 0.01), Q3 (Z = –4.583, p < 0.01), Q4 (Z = –2.828, p < 0.01), Q5 (Z = –3.000, p < 0.01), Q7 (Z = –4.123, p < 0.01), Q8 (Z = –3.317, p < 0.01), Q9 (Z = –4.243, p < 0.01), Q10 (Z = –3.051, p < 0.01), and Q11 (Z = –2.646, p < 0.01). Finally, there weren’t observed any statistically significant differences (Z = –0.447, p = 0.655) in the responses of the participants to the question Q6.
Conclusions
This study examines the attitudes of employers and human resources managers in the private sector with regard to hiring people with visual impairments and the variation of these attitudes after the application of a short informative program regarding the professions that people with visual impairments can practice, the characteristics of these individuals, the benefits arising from their employment, the supporting equipment required to complete their labor market integration, and the incentives provided by the state for their employability.
From the results of the responses of the total sample of the 40 participants, before the application of the informative program, we have drawn some basic conclusions. Firstly, negative attitudes of the majority of the participants (80.6%) is marked as for their intention to form specific jobs for people with visual impairments (Q6 ‘Intention to form specific jobs for people with visual impairments’) as well as for their intention to hire people with visual impairments in their business in general (45.0%) (Q1 ‘Intention to hire v.i. individuals’). In the formulation of this negative attitude is likely to contribute the lack of information, as employers do not know whether hiring an employee with a disability will benefit them or harm them economically, fact that makes them skeptical to the possibility of hiring people with disabilities (Cimera, 2006; Leonard, 2002; O’Day, 1999; Wolffe & Spungin, 2002).
Secondly, we have drawn positive conclusions from the responses of the participants before the informative program. Specifically, positive attitudes emerges from the responses of the majority (62.2%) of the participants who indicated willingness to do some actions in order to enhance the integration of people with visual impairments in their business (Q4 ‘Intention to do some actions to support their labor integration’), and from the positive anticipated by the majority of the participants (43.2%) reaction of their customers to the potential employment of people with visual impairments (Q9 ‘Anticipated reaction of the customers to the possibility of the employment of v.i. individuals’).
From the comparison of the responses of the 40 participants, both before and after conducting the short informative program, we have also drawn some significant conclusions. The 3 main cases-questions with the largest increase of the received positive responses from the employers and the largest percentage difference after applying the briefing are the following: a) The intention of the participants to offer volunteer work to people with visual impairments (Q2 ‘Intention to offer voluntary work’), b) their intention to provide to employees with visual impairments equal opportunities for career advancement with the other employees (Q3 ‘Intention to offer to v.i. employees the same opportunities to labor development with the rest of the employees’), and c) the anticipated positive reactions by them of their customers to the possibility of the employment of individuals with visual impairments (Q9 ‘Anticipated reaction of the customers to the possibility of the employment of v.i. individuals’).
Additionally, after the briefing is presented significant improvement on employers’ attitudes regarding the employment of people with visual impairments, which is reflected, apart from the above mentioned intention of the participants to offer volunteer work to people with visual impairments (Q2 ‘Intention to offer voluntary work’) and to provide to them equal opportunities (Q3 ‘Intention to offer to v.i. employees the same opportunities to labor development with the rest of the employees’), also in their willingness to hire people with visual impairments (Q1 ‘Intention to hire v.i. individuals’) and in their readiness to take appropriate measures to smooth their labor adjustment (Q4 ‘Intention to do some actions to support their labor integration’). Moreover, after the briefing is presented a positive change in employers’ intentions to attend a seminar on the labor market inclusion of people with visual impairments (Q11 ‘Intention to attend an informative seminar regarding the labor integration of v.i. individuals’) and in their willingness to hire people with visual impairments after the appropriate informative program (Q8 ‘Intention to hire v.i. people after the appropriate informative program’). These positive changes maybe because when employers comprehend, through an in depth briefing on the specific characteristics of people with disabilities, why persons can behave in a certain way, they are most likely to corporate with them and to support them (Chappel & Somers, 2010).
These conclusions are consistent with the findings of a relevant research (Hunt & Hunt, 2004), conducted on a sample of 190 students, who were considered as potential colleagues or employers of people with disabilities. According to Hunt and Hunt (2004) a significant improvement of the knowledge and the attitudes regarding the employment of people with disabilities is possible through short even hourly information. It turns out, then, that through briefing is possible to change people’s behavior, as the provision of new and accurate information may result in the redefinition and revision of existing attitudes (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Hunt & Hunt, 2004).
Afterwards the relative briefing of employers as for the existence of subsidies from the side of the state for the support of the employment of individuals with visual impairment and the supply of the supporting equipment, is additionally presented an increase of the intention for the employment by the side of employers of individuals with visual impairments if state grant (Q5 ‘Intention to hire v.i. individuals in case of a state subsidy’) and an increase of their intention to participate in a funded program for the creation of appropriate infrastructures for the employment of people with visual impairments (Q7 ‘Intention to participate in a funded program for the creation of appropriate infrastructures for v.i. individuals’).
From the above mentioned results emerges the importance of the state support to the employers for the labor market integration of people with visual impairments, and the catalytic role of the information regarding the existence of these measures, which otherwise are often ignored by the employers. It is concluded therefore, that the combination of measures and information, contributes significantly to the positive attitude of employers as for the work of people with visual impairments in their enterprise. This conclusion is consistent with research findings (Wolffe 1997; Wolffe and Candela 2002) according to which the information relating to adjustments and modifications of the workplace, that ensue the recruitment of an employee with a visual impairment, increases the probability of employment by the employer of a person with a visual impairment.
Limitations
The sample was limited to employers and human resource managers in one city and there could be a difficulty in generalizing results to other locations as employment rates of individuals with disabilities seem to vary between different geographic locations. In addition, the study sample is small. A follow up study could expand it in order to be able to draw safer conclusions.
Implications for future research and practice
The findings of this study can be seen as a basic step for future research in this area. The drawn up for the present research questionnaire may be a useful tool to investigate attitudes towards employment integration of people with visual impairments. The future researches may focus on exploring the needs of employers and through them on the investigation of the specific incentives that shall be provided by the State and on the measures that shall be taken, so that it can be rendered more attractive for the employers the employment of people with visual impairments and smoother for the employees’ with visual impairments their employment integration. Additionally, a crucial subject that could be further examined in a future research is whether the positive changes on employers’ attitudes are maintained or not after a longer period than the short time margin of two weeks that was used in the present study (for example after six months or one year).
Future researchers can also be extended to employers who already employ or have employed in the past, people with visual impairments, in order to make the comparison between the responses of the employers who have worked with people with visual impairments and the employers who have no relevant experience. Moreover, as demonstrated in relative researches, the employers who had previously hired people with disabilities in their business, are presented satisfied and willing to continue employing people with disabilities (Gilbride et al., 2000) and the employers who benefit from the overall relevant experience of other employers or who receive persuasive information regarding the satisfactory performance of these workers, the increasing productivity and the overall benefit to the company by their performance, are presented subsequently more positive for possible incorporation into their workforce of people with disabilities (Hartnett et al., 2011; Wolffe & Candela, 2002).
Also, the comparison of the participants’ responses before and after the briefing may be used as a tool to demonstrate the points for which employers are worried, afraid or hesitant regarding hiring people with visual impairments in their workplace and consequently may point the way to solve these problems through targeted and appropriate information. If the employers’ requirements are met and they consider via the briefing that the company needs are answered, then the disability of any kind ceases to play primary role in their decision to hire people with impairments (European Centre for Environmental Research and Training, 2007; Luecking, 2008) and the attention is being transferred from the disability on the skills and the abilities of individuals. For this purpose a pilot driver briefing may be the informative booklet, which was used for the present study.
The findings of this study can be used in practice by the state and especially by relevant factors, including the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, in the planning for the social inclusion of people with visual impairments and in the actualization of this through relative programs of briefing and raising of social awareness with emphasis on the meaning of work for people with disability (Saunders & Nedelec, 2014), that will start at school possibly with the introduction of relevant courses (Hunt & Hunt, 2004) and will lead to the workplaces and to the persons in charge of these with relative information campaigns (O’Day 1999), and training programs (Stone & Colella, 1996).
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.