abstract: 'Introduction Timely and appropriate accommodations can help employees

  who experience disabilities stay at work instead of exiting the labor

  force. Employers can play a critical role in connecting such workers

  with the accommodations they need. This qualitative study seeks to

  inform policy makers who want to improve workforce retention outcomes by

  uncovering factors that affect whether employers provide accommodations

  to, and ultimately retain, employees with disabilities. Methods We

  conducted semistructured interviews with a convenience sample of human

  resources professionals in 14 Arkansas-based employers, yielding

  detailed information on 50 cases in which an employee developed or

  disclosed a disability. We analyzed the interviews using a grounded

  theory approach and compared cases to identify key themes emerging

  across subgroups of cases. Results Two organization-level factors and

  four employee-level factors influenced employers'' efforts to accommodate

  and retain employees with disabilities: employer resources; employers''

  communication with the employee and other stakeholders; employee tenure;

  employee work performance; active/sedentary nature of employee role; and

  the severity and type of employees'' health conditions. Conclusions

  Consistent with prior literature, employers with greater access to

  resources and better ability to communicate generally made greater

  effort to accommodate and retain employees with disabilities. However,

  employers in the study did not deploy these resources and processes

  consistently when making decisions about whether and how to provide

  accommodations to workers with disabilities; employee-level

  characteristics affected their actions. Policy makers should consider

  intervention approaches that reach workers who may be overlooked by

  employers with scarce resources.'
affiliation: 'Morrison, K (Corresponding Author), Math Policy Res, 1100 First St NE,Floor
  12, Washington, DC 20002 USA.

  Gould-Werth, Alix, Washington Ctr Equitable Growth, 1500 K St NW,Suite 850, Washington,
  DC 20005 USA.

  Morrison, Katherine; Ben-Shalom, Yonatan, Math Policy Res, 1100 First St NE,Floor
  12, Washington, DC 20002 USA.'
author: Gould-Werth, Alix and Morrison, Katherine and Ben-Shalom, Yonatan
author-email: 'agouldwerth@equitablegrowth.org

  kmorrison@mathematica-mpr.com'
author_list:
- family: Gould-Werth
  given: Alix
- family: Morrison
  given: Katherine
- family: Ben-Shalom
  given: Yonatan
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1007/s10926-018-9806-6
eissn: 1573-3688
files: []
issn: 1053-0487
journal: JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION
keywords: 'Work; Disability; Work retention; Work accommodations; Qualitative

  research'
keywords-plus: SUPERVISOR; WORK; EMPLOYMENT; BARRIERS; RETURN
language: English
month: DEC
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '25'
orcid-numbers: Ben-Shalom, Yonatan/0000-0002-8891-9470
pages: 611-633
papis_id: 8d1ca54583b9002db840af305df0959a
ref: Gouldwerth2018employersperspective
times-cited: '10'
title: 'Employers'' Perspectives on Accommodating and Retaining Employees with Newly
  Acquired Disabilities: An Exploratory Study'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000450856600006
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '7'
volume: '28'
web-of-science-categories: Rehabilitation; Social Issues
year: '2018'