Disclosing illness and disability in the workplace

Abstract

PurposeThis paper seeks to explore what disclosing illness and disability in the workplace means to workers with chronic illness and disabilities. It aims to argue that beginning analysis from the meanings of these workers contributes to a nuanced understanding of their situations; gaining this view requires knowing how individuals define their health as well as their meanings, risks, and dilemmas of disclosing illness and disability; understanding the employee's perspective and actions helps employers to make useful accommodations for illness and disability; and this analysis can offer researchers and managers in international business a starting‐point for making comparisons with worksites across the globe.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis derives from qualitative data in which issues concerning disclosure emerged as a recurring theme, and on studies reported in literatures that illuminate ill and disabled workers' views and experience. The paper draws on material from 185 qualitative interviews with North Americans who have chronic illnesses and disabilities and on interview data reported in the research literature that illuminate ill and disabled workers' views and experience.FindingsIn all these data, issues concerning disclosure emerged as a recurring theme. Beginning analysis from the meanings of the workers contributes to a nuanced understanding of their situations that involves learning how individuals define their health as well as their meanings of the risks and dilemmas of disclosing illness and disability.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of this analysis include: aiding employers to understand the employee's perspective and actions, providing considerations for making useful accommodations for illness and disability, and offering researchers and managers in international business a starting‐point for making comparisons with worksites across the globe.Originality/valueThe paper examines how workers with chronic illness and disabilities feel about disclosing their conditions, with a view, inter alia, to helping employers to compare their situation with other worksites worldwide.

Supporting workers with disabilities: a scoping review of the role of human resource management in contemporary organisations

“…Lengnick-Hall, Gaunt, and Kulkarni (2008) contend employers are concerned about how other able-bodied staff will react to staff with physical disability which influences their attitudes. However, it appears that if the worker themselves believes that their physical disability will not negatively impact on their performance then colleagues and managers are likely to be in agreement (Charmaz 2010). Roessler et al (2011) conducted a survey of 200 workers with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the United States.…”

Managerial attitudes: Influences on workforce outcomes for working women with chronic illness

“…Other options may include undertaking work at a lower level to assist with symptoms, or seeking work in a more understanding workplace. Charmaz (2010) found that where workers were established and valued within the organisation, employers were more likely to approve requests for accommodations. However, the possibility of discrimination or negative reactions of colleagues 'shapes how people manage information about their illness at work' (Beatty and Joffe, 2006: 186).…”

“…The issue of managerial attitudes towards employees with various types of disabilities is a topic which is increasingly under scrutiny by researchers both in Australia and overseas. Some notable papers on the topic include: Vickers (2012), Vickers (2003), Charmaz (2010), and Beatty and Joffe (2006). These studies show that the influences of others in the workplace, particularly managers, are pivotal to the retention of capable individuals with chronic illness or other disabilities in the workplace.…”

“…Policies that allow for formal accommodations for employees with illness should reflect the disabling effects of different chronic conditions (Charmaz, 2010). A common misconception is that managing individuals with illness is in conflict with an economically productive business environment which is defined in terms of unquestioned assumptions about the need for 'constant involvement and productivity, speed, coordinated timing, regular schedules and predictable performance levels' (Charmaz, 2010: 10).…”

“…These include the existence of workplace policy and levels of support (Charmaz, 2010) as well as the attitudes of managers (Pinder, 1995). This article examines the influence that lack of understanding, on the part of managers and workplaces, exert on the workforce outcomes of women with chronic illness.…”