Including Job Applicants With Disability In Recruitment

1. Executive Summary

As 21st century organizations have emphasized on the cultivation of diverse human capital management to ensure that the overall organizational achievement， the overlooked or untapped human capitals such as disabled job applicants have been took into consideration. However， including people with disability in workplace recruitment has confronted barriers such as attitudinal barriers， institutional barriers and self-centred barriers. Based on research finding， via critically analysing those barriers and providing practical recommendations， this paper aims to provide the HR practitioners with the knowledge of including the disabled job applicants in recruitment.

2. Introduction

Thinking about the broad scope of the “non-traditional” applicant pools which indicated to target candidates who differ from traditional hires in terms of age， gender， ethnicity and healthy， this paper has narrowed down the scope to solely target the applicant pool which composed by people with disability.As this paper aiming to provide the HR practitioners with the knowledge of inclusion of the disabled job applicants in recruitment.

3. The barriers for inclusion and empirical respond to these barriers

3.1 Attitudinal barriers

According to Kulkarni and Lengnick-Hall （2014）， attitudinal barriers are the major hinder that exclude such workers， mainly it includes individual biases， prejudices or stigmatized perception. Further， the low level of internal job mobility and job mismatch related to this minority group， which manifested the exclusion of internal recruitment， also evident employers bias that perceives such workers as poor job performers or unproductive， and may pose discomfort among co-workers （Mitra & Kruse， 2016）. The perceived risks， unpredictable financial cost that caused by workplace injury or accident， also attribute to the negative attitude that may hinder the recruitment inclusion.

3.2 Empirical respond towards the attitudinal barriers

Even though pervasive exists of negative attitude has been manifested in numerous research， the empirical research also indicated the attitudinal barriers are surmountable. Moreover， transfer of decision-making burden across whole organizations also rated highly benefit to inclusion such workers with disability without bias （Kaye et al.， 2011）. Notably， in the process of overall attitude shift scholars found an emphasize on communication between employers with such applicants and employer accommodations have positive spillover impacts on the positive or productive attitudes of other fellows.

3.3 Institutional barriers

In detail， the rational economic perspective focuses on self-interest， deliberate decision-making and cost optimization. Moreover， in the decision-making process， recruiters often prejudge job applicants with disability based on perceived risks of inclusion that include less productive in workplace， less cognizant when confront dangerous situation and perceived absenteeism in future （Harcourt et al.， 2005）. By contrary， as the institutional perspectives claim that organisations rarely have time and resources to calculate an economic decision. Thus， scholars have introduced a legitimacy perception that focus on gaining main stakeholders trust and this perspective declare that organisational key achievement is social fitness and status.

4. Conclusion

Generally， founded on research findings， the issue of including disabled job applicants in recruitment includes three major barriers： attitudinal barriers， institutional barriers and self-concerned barriers.

5. Recommendations

5.1 Shift employers and other co-workers attitude

As the major barrier to include disabled applicants is the negative attitude from inside the organisations， so the attitudinal change must be highlight. Moreover， training the managers and other co-workers to understand the disability related issue may also helpful for the promotion of inclusion. More importantly， as the employers attitude have pervasively influence other workers attitude， so an emphasize on employers attitude shift or extend their openness should leverage.

5.2 Collaborate with third party

Considering the shortage of resources and information that associates with such minority group， organisations should collaborate with third party agencies to seek support program such as government support service. Also， in order to target the best candidates， organisations should also seek support from counsellors to identify the most matched applicants.

References：

[1]Austin，R.，&Sonne;，T.The dandelion principle：Redesigning work for the innovation economy[J].Mit Sloan Management Review，2014，55（4）：67-72.

[2]Kulkarni，M.，&Lengnick-Hall;，M.L.Obstacles to success in the workplace for people with disabilities：A review and research agenda. Human Resource Development Review，2014，13：158-180.

【作者簡介】索菲娅（1989.05.05-），女，西藏拉萨人，西藏大学财经学院，研究生，助教，研究方向：人力资源、市场营销。