Exploratory Study of Employers’ Attitudes and Perceptions in Hiring and Retaining People with Physical Disability

Abstract

Employment is considered a critical element of membership in the society and people with disabilities have equal rights to be effectively employed. People with disability come across numerous challenges when integrating into the workforce and overcoming negative attitudes and perceptions of the employers is cited as a major challenge. This study, therefore, aims to explore employers’ attitudes and perceptions in hiring and retaining people with physical disabilities. An in-depth understanding of employers’ attitudes towards employing people with disability may assist in identifying the gaps and challenges to address their work-related challenges and unemployment in Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eleven human resource managers working in the private sector of Islamabad. Transcripts comprising of participants’ verbatim were analyzed using Thematic Analysis based on descriptive approach. The reliability of the research was dealt by ensuring credibility, dependability, and conformability. Inter-rater reliability was found satisfactory. Six main themes and nineteen sub themes in total have emerged from the data analysis. The main themes are employers’ attitude, policy awareness and implementation, perceived challenges and concerns by employers, barriers to the employment of people with disabilities, provision of reasonable accommodation, and career development and retention of people with disabilities. The main themes and sub-themes are described and interpreted to understand employers' perceptions and attitudes. The research findings indicate that employer's perception is generally favorable towards the employment of people with disabilities, however, due to the lack of resources and policy implementation plan; employers hesitate to include such people into the workforce. Findings further show that the size of the organization has a key influence on the hiring practices of employers working in small and medium scale organizations. Findings indicate revision of the policy in light of employers' views and development of implementation plans for national policy. The findings are discussed in relation to the previous literature and they indicate culture-specific factors in hiring. The study highlights status of policy implementation in organizations, a dire need for policy revision and implementation, and the challenges and concerns employers have while hiring people with disabilities. Finally, the research findings provide recommendations that will contribute in improving the current perspective and situation of employment of people with disabilities in Pakistan.