research 

V. Research

A.

• VCU-RRTC has extensively studied employers’ attitudes toward people with disabilities in the workforce

• Surveyed 255 supervisors employed by 43 businesses on their assessment of the work performance of employees with disabilities

• Supervisors were quite satisfied with the work performance of employees with disabilities

• Supervisors rated the performance of their employees with disabilities similar to that of their non disabled peers
   

1. Employers:

    1a.

• businesses were diverse in terms of types of industry

• percentages of supervisors per industry are contained below in Figure 1a

• employers were predominately larger employers

• supervisors indicated they had been employed in their current position for at least one year but less than five

• vast majority reported having five or more years experience as a supervisor

Figure 1a, Click the image for an enlarged view.
 

      1b.

• as depicted below in figure 1b, less than one third of the supervisors were responsible for managing 10 or less employees

• approximately one-half of the respondents supervising 11 to 50 workers

• all supervisors had supervised an employee with a disability at some point within the last six months

• the greatest number of supervisors indicated they had been the supervisor of the referenced employee for at least one year but less than three

Figure 1b, Click the image for an enlarged view.
 

2. Work Performance of Employees with Disabilities
    2a. Employee performance assessment

• the 255 supervisors were satisfied with the work performance of the worker with a disability

• the areas of satisfaction included, timeliness of arrival and departure, punctuality, attendance, and consistency in task (see Figure 2a)

Figure 2a, Click the image for an enlarged view.
 

    2b. Employee performance assessment compared to coworkers

• the performance of employees with disabilities was the same as or better than coworkers on almost all of the measures of work performance (see Figure 2b)

• in the areas of punctuality, attendance, work quality, task consistency, and overall proficiency, the employees with disabilities were rated the same or better than coworkers

• in the area of work speed , supervisors indicated that workers with disabilities performed about the same as coworkers

Figure 2b, Click the image for an enlarged view.

B.   Test Your Knowledge