Ada and Unemployment

Executive Summary

The employment rate of adults with disabilities is far below the rate of adults without disabilities. However, many businesses may be reluctant to employ people with disabilities, fearing costs in the form of health care, accommodations, and lower productivity without requisite benefits. Little is known about the employer or demand side of the labor market, particularly the micro-level decision-making by businesses around the employment of people with disabilities.

In order to fill this gap in understanding, the investigators in this research study conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with members of senior management, human resources staff, Directors of Diversity, and hiring managers at three businesses with extensive experience employing people with disabilities (Aon Corporation, McDonald’s, and Arrow Messenger) and one small business with negligible experience hiring people with disabilities (Data Armor). The goal was to discover the reasons why businesses choose to employ people with disabilities and to learn how they successfully do it. The businesses were selected to cover a variety of sizes and sectors. Qualitative data analysis was conducted to code the transcripts and notes of these interviews for emergent themes and concepts. The major findings are as follows:

• Businesses generally employ people with disabilities because of some commitment that derives from a variety of sources, including a strong commitment to diversity in general and a CEO with personal experiences with family members with disabilities (Aon), strong enduring relationships with the disability community and an ethic of serving the community by serving all sectors of the population (McDonald’s), or a personal commitment to hiring people with disabilities coupled with strong relationships with nonprofit organizations that shoulder some of the burden of the cost of accommodations (Arrow Messenger).

• The major perceived benefits to hiring people with...