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Report of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy's (ODEP) Survey of Employer Policies on the Employment of People with Disabilities. The executive summary begins with a brief description of the methodology followed by an overview of major findings from the survey. A more in-depth review of findings plus methodological detail is contained in the remainder of this report and its technical appendices. Overall, the results indicate that there has been some progress over the past decade, since the previous survey was conducted, in private sector employer efforts to recruit and hire people with disabilities, especially among medium sized and large companies. However, many employers are still not making efforts to recruit and hire people with disabilities or implementing practices to make the workplace more inclusive. Findings are discussed in greater detail in the remainder of this executive summary.

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Key Takeaways

• The percentage of companies that report employing people with disabilities increased over the past decade, but people with disabilities still make up a small percentage of companies’ workforces.
• While the percentage of companies that actively recruit and hire people with disabilities increased over the past decade, a majority of companies are not actively recruiting and hiring people with disabilities.
• Employers perceive benefits to hiring people with disabilities but also voice concerns that limit their recruiting and hiring of people with disabilities to fill job vacancies.
• While three inclusive recruitment and hiring practices were implemented by a majority of companies, companies were not implementing other practices that could make the workplace more welcoming for people with disabilities.
• Companies implemented more practices to retain and advance people with disabilities than they did to recruit and hire people with disabilities. Many of these practices appear to benefit all employees rather than focus only on employees with disabilities.
• Several disability inclusive practices were associated with an increased likelihood of hiring, retaining, and promoting people with disabilities. However, there was a mismatch between the practices implemented by companies and the practices that appeared to be effective. Some of the practices most strongly related to hiring were not likely to be implemented by companies. At the same time, some of the practices that were unrelated to hiring were implemented by the majority of companies.
• Federal contractors were more likely than other companies to implement disability inclusive practices.

Research Gaps

• Continued research on demand-side factors is valuable for efforts to increase the employment of people with disabilities. Given the role played by employer attitudes, more research is needed on whether educational interventions designed to change workplace attitudes are effective and produce long-term positive changes in attitudes. Workplace educational interventions can include information, contact, and training. The interventions should be targeted to coworkers and supervisors, both of whom play a key role in a receptive work environment. The implementation of such interventions would hopefully lead to the increased integration of people with disabilities in the workplace and a narrowing of the employment gaps with people without disabilities. (pages 4-6)

Citation

Gasper, J., Palan, M., Muz, B. (2020). Westat. Survey of Employer Policies on the Employment of People with Disabilities: Final Report. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.