Diversity In The Workplace

Ways in which the workplace is experienced differentially by disabled people and the role that managers/organisations play in the processes identified.
Diversity is an important aspect of the workplace today. At present, any successful organisation is no longer confined to employing ‘just white men’; people from different genders, races, ethnicities and disabilities constitute the workforce. Consequentially, different disadvantaged groups will have different workplace experiences. As such this paper outlines the experiences of disabled people in work organisations and the roles managers, organisations and society as a whole play in it.
Research conducted by Adams and Oldfield (2012) states that work provides meaning and value to disabled
people,
Sometimes disabled employees were not offered a certain task, as they did not ‘fit the role’. Bullying was common workplace harassment. Verbal and practical jokes, name-calling, gossip and such, became a part of the working lives of some disabled employees. Favoritism was another issue – disabled employees experienced resentment from their non-disabled colleagues due to the adjustments the organisation made to accommodate the former. Fear

of such resentment sometimes prevents disabled people from asking for workplace adjustments that could improve their potential and make them better assets to the organization.
Foster (2007) documents several disabled employees’ experiences of negotiating workplace adjustments under UK’s Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Despite obligations on employers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’, disabled employees still experience workplace discrimination. A few disturbing findings from
Foster’s research are that almost half of the interviewees experienced stress and ill health due to the workplace adjustment process (legal requirements doing more harm than good), also, many
There is a lack of disability awareness and training amongst managers and employees. In addition, disabled employees had negative experiences such as bullying, harassment, delay in accommodating the required adjustments that were asked for, which were sometimes also refused. Such negativity from colleagues and the management had implemented fear in disabled employees, which in turn led to anxiety, distrust in the management, and most times simply ‘getting by’ at work. Whilst not all employees underwent negative experiences, evidence suggests that almost all of them experienced delay in having their needs satisfied resulting in stress (Foster, 2007). Research has it that a considerate amount of disabled employees change jobs or leave the workforce due to work related illnesses; these individuals could have retained their jobs if provided with the necessary provisions and in some cases, appropriate return to work support (Cunningham et al., 2004). Hence there is a clear need for an attitude change in work organisations and society as a whole.
It is the organizations that require to be changed rather than individuals needing to be ‘cured’ (Kirton