How working from home can offer more accessible careers for people with disabilities

By Zhanna Lyubykh

Work has many benefits. It provides structure, serves as a source of meaning and offers opportunities for social inclusion. Yet some groups of people are disadvantaged when it comes to finding meaningful careers. Despite labour legislation ensuring equal rights for all groups, research demonstrates that people with disabilities are two times more likely to be unemployed (Fogg et al., 2010). This is a particular concern for Canada considering high prevalence rates of disability in the Canadian population. One factor that contributes to this dismal state of affairs is absent or poor job accommodations for persons with disabilities. However, the swift shift to telework caused by COVID-19 has highlighted the feasibility and benefits of working from home.

Whether the pandemic normalizes work from home, making it a new reality, or employees return to their offices represents a critical question for persons with disabilities (e.g. Ali et al., 2011). The ability to work from home not only represents a job accommodation in itself, but it also offers numerous career benefits for persons with disabilities. These benefits go beyond improved flexibility and reduced commute time. By working from home, persons with disabilities have an opportunity to take more frequent breaks, remain close to medical equipment and manage unpredictable flareups in their condition. Although some managers have concerns regarding employees’ productivity and reduced monitoring capabilities, research demonstrates that work from home does not have a negative effect on performance; in fact, such flexible arrangements can increase performance (e.g. Choudhury et al., 2021).

Notwithstanding these positives, work from home can have potential downsides for persons with disabilities. Fist, work from home can mean greater social isolation as employees have fewer opportunities for causal chats or impromptu coffee breaks. This social isolation can also be costly in terms of career outcomes. For example, employees with disabilities may have fewer opportunities to foster good-quality relationships with their supervisors, which is crucial for many work-related outcomes (e.g., Lyubykh et al., 2020). Further, employees may miss networking opportunities, or they may not have opportunities to demonstrate their social skills to others. In the long run, an accumulation of such missed opportunities may hinder career advancement of employees working from home.

One way to mitigate such negative consequences is by purposefully providing opportunities for social interactions. For example, managers can budget in “slack time” in work meetings for non-work-related discussions or organize social meetings with breakout rooms for employees.

Working from home can also create an “out of sight, out of mind” situation, resulting in missed opportunities for trainings or promotions, which can hinder career progression for employees with disabilities. This can be particularly problematic when a person with disability is the only one who is working from home. To ensure that managers do not inadvertently disadvantage careers of persons with disabilities who work from home, companies need to develop disability inclusive policies that explicitly include guidelines regarding training, promotion and career development.

Taken together, work from home can represent a path forward for removing employment barriers and ensuring better employment experiences for persons with disabilities. However, this path should be approached with caution. If not managed properly, some aspects of work from home can further disadvantage employees with disabilities.

Zhanna Lyubykh is a PhD student in Organizational Behavior at Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. Her research interests lie at the intersection of employee well-being, occupational health and leadership.

References

Ali, M., Schur, L., & Blanck, P. (2011). What types of jobs do people with disabilities want? Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21(2), 199-210.

Choudhury, P., Foroughi, C., & Larson, B. (2021). Work‐from‐anywhere: The productivity effects of geographic flexibility. Strategic Management Journal, 42(4), 655-683.

Fogg, N. P., Harrington, P. E., & McMahon, B. T. (2010). The impact of the Great Recession upon the unemployment of Americans with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 33(3), 193-202.

Lyubykh, Z., Ansari, M. A., Williams-Whitt, K., & Kristman, V. L. (2020). Disability severity, leader–member exchange, and attitudinal outcomes: considering the employee and supervisor perspectives. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 1-11.