A recent study has examined the relationship between disability status, job satisfaction, and workplace accommodations among healthcare workers. The research aimed to understand how job satisfaction and the process of requesting and receiving accommodations differ for employees with disabilities compared to those without.
The study used a new survey focused on healthcare workers’ disability status, their perceptions of work experiences, and whether they received workplace accommodations. Both descriptive analysis and multiple regression methods were employed to analyze the data.
Findings indicate that healthcare workers with disabilities generally have more negative views of their work experiences than their non-disabled colleagues. While employees with disabilities are more likely to request workplace accommodations, the likelihood of having these requests fully or partially granted is similar for both groups.
Regression analysis revealed that when accommodation requests are taken into account, most of the negative differences in work experience between disabled and non-disabled employees disappear. However, intentions to leave a job remain higher among people with disabilities even if an accommodation is provided. The research also found that partial accommodations only improve certain aspects of job experience.
"Our paper shows that fully granting accommodations can go a long way to closing the disability gap in job satisfaction between people with and without disabilities," the authors concluded.
The results highlight the importance of fully meeting accommodation requests as a way to improve job satisfaction for healthcare workers with disabilities.
