No abstract

Human resource practitioners play a crucial role in promoting equitable treatment of persons with disabilities, and practitioner's decisions should be guided by solid evidence‐based research. We offer a systematic review of the empirical research on the treatment of persons with disabilities in organizations, using Stone and Colella's seminal theoretical model of the factors influencing the treatment of persons with disabilities in work organizations, to ask: What does the available research reveal about workplace treatment of persons with disabilities, and what remains understudied? Our review of 88 empirical studies from management, rehabilitation, psychology, and sociology research highlights seven gaps and limitations in extant research: (a) implicit definitions of workplace treatment; (b) neglect of national context variation; (c) missing differentiation between disability populations; (d) overreliance on available data sets; (e) predominance of single‐source, cross‐sectional data; (f) neglect of individual differences and identities in the presence of disability; and (g) lack of specificity on underlying stigma processes. To support the development of more inclusive workplaces, we recommend increased research collaborations between human resource researchers and practitioners on the study of specific disabilities and contexts, and efforts to define and expand notions of treatment to capture more nuanced outcomes.

Diversity research assumes that social interaction is influenced by a social categorization that arises from visible and readily detectable differences. How does this process work when the differences are not readily detectable? We explore the legal protections that shape the employment environment for people with invisible identities and how invisibility influences the common social dimensions of stigma these individuals experience. These social dimensions are resistant to change and therefore change occurs slowly: stigma cannot simply be legislated away. On the basis of our comparisons of social identity groups with invisible characteristics we discuss four dimensions that are especially relevant for understanding the social dynamics of invisible diversities.

Working with chronic illness may present challenges for individuals-for instance, managing symptoms at work, attaining accommodations, and career planning while considering health limitations. These challenges may be stressful and lead to strains. We tested a 12-week, 6-session, phone-based coaching intervention designed to help workers manage these challenges and reduce strains. Using theories of stress and resources, we proposed that coaching would help boost workers' internal resources and would lead to improved work ability perceptions, exhaustion and disengagement burnout, job self-efficacy, core self-evaluations, resilience, mental resources, and job satisfaction, and that these beneficial effects would be stable 12 weeks after coaching ended. Fifty-nine full-time workers with chronic illnesses were randomly assigned to either a coaching group or a waitlisted control group. Participants completed online surveys at enrollment, at the start of coaching, after coaching ended, and 12 weeks postcoaching. Compared with the control group, the coaching group showed significantly improved work ability perceptions, exhaustion burnout, core self-evaluations, and resilience-yet no significant improvements were found for job self-efficacy, disengagement burnout, or job satisfaction. Indirect effects of coaching on work ability, exhaustion and disengagement burnout, and job satisfaction were observed through job self-efficacy, core self-evaluations, resilience, and mental resources. Results indicated that the positive effects of coaching were stable 12 weeks after coaching ended. Results suggest that this coaching intervention was helpful in improving the personal well-being of individuals navigating challenges associated with working and managing chronic illness.

This paper examines the career barriers and attitudes of people working in the U.S. with chronic illness. Chronic illness is distinct from disability, with often variable symptoms; symptoms may also be invisible or ambiguous. Social cognitive career theory and illness studies provide the theoretical framing for the specific career barriers of this population. Data comes from interviews with 23 working individuals with chronic illness. The results show that career barriers come from the illness itself (its symptoms and uncertainty), other's reactions to illness, and institutional rules. Misconceptions about illness, pity, and perceptions that people with illness either can't handle challenging work or that they will soon exit the workforce due to their illness were frequently mentioned. Peoples' career paths are influenced in characteristic ways, with patterns of plateauing, redirecting, retreating, and self-employment. They also report a reprioritization of career and personal goals. The findings aim to distinguish the chronic illness experience and its career barriers to help people with illness and their employers develop effective approaches and strategies for working with illness.