Disability, workplace inclusion and organizational citizenship behavior: an exploratory study of the legal profession

PurposeMany workers with disabilities face cultures of exclusion in the workplace, which can affect their participation in decisions, workplace engagement, job attitudes and performance. The authors explore a key indicator of engagement—perceptions of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)—as it relates to disability and other marginalized identities in the workplace.Design/methodology/approachUsing an online survey, legal professionals answered questions about their workplace experiences. Ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression analysis with progressive adjustment was used to investigate the effect of demographic and organizational factors on perceptions of OCB.FindingsThe authors find that employees with disabilities have lower perceptions of OCB, both before and after controlling for other personal and job variables. The disability gap is cut nearly in half, however, when controlling for workplace culture measures of co-worker support and the presence of an effective diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy. Disability does not appear to interact with gender, race/ethnicity and LGBTQ + status in affecting perceptions of OCB.Originality/valueThe results point to the workplace barriers faced by people with disabilities that affect their perceptions of engagement, and the potential for supportive cultures to change these perceptions.

The Sabbath Observer, the Idiosyncratist, and the Religious Organization: How the EEOC Imagines Religion at Work

Charged with enforcing Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission plays an overlooked but profoundly important role in shaping American religious life. While scholars of religion, law, and American culture have devoted a great deal of energy to analyzing the ways that federal courts define religion for the purposes of protecting it, they have paid less attention to the role of administrative agencies, like the EEOC. In this article, I argue that the private workplace offers a critical site for understanding how the state regulates and manages American religious life. I look to the EEOC's regulatory guidelines and compliance manuals as important sources for understanding the shifting relationship between religion, law, and work in the United States. I identify three modes of religiosity—or three types of religious actors—existing in tension in the EEOC archive, each bearing a distinct genealogy: the Sabbath Observer, the Idiosyncratist, and the Organization. While gesturing to very different notions of what religion is, the figures of the Idiosyncratist and the Organization both assume that demands of religion and work can be neatly reconciled. They presume that religion can be seamlessly integrated into the workplace without disrupting the functioning of capitalism. However, for those concerned about economic inequality, corporate power, and neoliberal working conditions, I suggest that it may be useful to revisit the EEOC's Sabbath Observer, who insists on the right to collective forms of life and value outside of work and the market.

Crowd work in STEM‐related fields: A window of opportunity from a gender perspective?

After the Global Financial Crisis (2008) many people found new job opportunities on crowd platforms. The COVID‐19 crisis reinforced this trend and virtual work is expected to increase. Although the working conditions of individuals engaged on these platforms is an emerging topic, of research, the existing literature tends to overlook the gendered dimension of the gig economy. Following a quantitative approach, based on the statistical analysis of 444 profiles (platform Freelancer.com in Spain and Argentina), we examine the extent to which the gig economy reproduces gender inequalities such as the underrepresentation of women in STEM‐related tasks and the gender pay gap. While the findings reveal lower participation of women than men, this gap is not higher in Argentina than in Spain. Moreover, gender variations in hourly wages are not as marked as expected, and such differences disappear once STEM skill levels are controlled for. Asymmetry in individuals' STEM skill level provides a better explanation than gender of the hourly wage differences. This finding opens a window of opportunity to mitigate the classical gender discrimination that women face in technological fields in traditional labor markets. Finally, the paper identifies some issues concerning the methodological bias entailed by the use of an application programming interface in cyber‐research, when analyzing gender inequalities.

Precarious Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Disability-Related Discrimination, and Mental Health

Drawing on separate strands of research documenting the psychological consequences of (a) precarious employment and other challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and (b) ableism, this study incorporates both into an examination of disability-based differences in the joint significance of discrimination and work precarity during the pandemic for mental health. Analyses utilizing data from a regional survey of people with and without disabilities in the Intermountain West (N = 2,012) provide evidence that precarious employment, greater discrimination, and disability independently predict depressive symptoms. Further, in the context of greater discrimination, more precarious employment is found to have greater significance for people with disabilities compared to those who are not currently disabled. These findings challenge us to think about how we engage in research concerning ableism and macro-level stressors, and underscore the role of power structures and positionality in shaping the psychological impact of employment challenges experienced during the pandemic.

Labor Market Returns to MBAs From Less‐Selective Universities: Evidence From a Field Experiment During COVID‐19

Master's degree enrollment and debt have increased substantially in recent years, raising important questions about the labor market value of these credentials. Using a field experiment featuring 9,480 job applications submitted during the early months of the COVID‐19 pandemic, I examine employers' responses to job candidates with a Master of Business Administration (MBA), which represents one‐quarter of all master's degrees in the United States. I focus on MBAs from three types of less‐selective institutions that collectively enroll the vast majority of master's students: for‐profit, online, and regional universities. Despite the substantial time and expense required for these degrees, job candidates with MBAs from all three types of institutions received positive responses from employers at the same rate as candidates who only had a bachelor's degree—even for positions that listed a preference for a master's degree. Additionally, applicants with names suggesting they were Black men received 30 percent fewer positive responses than otherwise equivalent applicants whose names suggested they were White men or women, providing further evidence of racial discrimination in hiring practices.

Tech and the times: why technology is the double-edged sword that HR teams must navigate

Purpose>This study aims to explore how changing technology can be harnessed by HR teams to improve the efficiency of the workplace and elevate the employee experience. It analyses whether technology contributes to more issues than it solves, and whether HR teams should consider adopting measures grounded in technology.Design/methodology/approach>This study stemmed from the recent publishing of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development employee well-being report and months of research into the key issues that HR teams face within the industry, offering a perspective on why they should consider technology as the solution to these.Findings>By adapting HR strategy, technology can be used to better employee health and well-being, as well as business turnover. The future of HR doesn’t lie in rejecting these new systems and ways of working, but rather by accepting them and implementing the necessary boundaries to preserve and even improve employee health.Originality/value>The value of this study is to provide HR teams with a comprehensive take on the role that technology currently plays, and will continue to play, as a solution to the issues that plague the industry.

Ostracism in the diverse workplace: Experiences of different racial/ethnic groups and immigrant employees

The U.S. labor force is diverse in terms of employees' racial/ethnic identities and countries of origin. The growing race/ethnicity- and nationality-based diversity in the workplace has had different outcomes. On the one hand, racial/ethnic minorities and immigrants contribute to wide-ranging and diverse workplaces. On the other hand, past and present prejudices sustain an environment that marginalizes minoritized workers. Perceived ostracism produces a negative interpersonal experience for which the consequences and ambiguous motives have been broadly and frequently studied. In this chapter, we provide an overview of perceived ostracism patterns among members of minority groups. First, we describe the demographic profile of the U.S. labor force. Second, we review equal employment laws and company policies that may impact how minority employees experience mistreatment. Third, we describe research on experiences of workplace ostracism, focusing on minority and immigrant workers. In specific, we examine buffers to the harmful effects of workplace ostracism, including cultural identity salience, social support, and individual differences in harmony enhancement. Furthermore, we offer suggestions to organizations to reduce the incidence of ostracism of racial/ethnic minority and foreign-born employees. We conclude by discussing ostracism and COVID-19 and directions for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Bilingual Special Issue in English and Spanish: Gender, Social Inclusion, and Entrepreneurship: Women's Struggles in the Private and Public Sectors Meeting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #5

According to Anker (1997), employment discrimination can cause mismatches between skills and jobs, which affects the efficiency of markets. [...]this special issue contributes to expanding and deepening labour discrimination, specifically in closing gaps in salary and gender segmentation in the labour market that are the leading causes of gender inequity. Evidence from India" by Krishna M * "Entrepreneurial Competencies in Graduate Students from Mexico: A Gender Perspective" by Eduardo R. Díaz * "Social Inclusion, Equality, Leadership, and Diversity, to attain Sustainable Development Goal 5 in Indian Banking Industry" by Surjit Singha and Sivarethinamohan R. * "Diverging women on mommy track to career track" by Sunaina Arora and Dr. Neeraj Kumari * "Tobacco Farming, Addiction, Promotion of Gender Equality, Well-being and monopoly of the Indian Market" by Ranjit Singha and Dr Yogesh Kanna * "An empirical analysis of life satisfaction in adolescent development in high- and middleincome countries" by Amirreza Kazemikhasragh This special issue tries to respond and close gaps in the literature. [...]this special issue presents an unprecedented collaboration of researchers with the common goal of promoting business management and moving towards the economic empowerment of women and eradicating gender segregation in labour markets.

Now protected or still stigmatized? A 25-year outlook on the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Purpose>In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. This law was intended to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities (PWD) in employment, public accommodations, transportation and other areas of life. However, the degree of impact in these sectors has not been studied in tandem. Addressing these sectors together is the primary objective of this paper.Design/methodology/approach>Results are analyzed and presented regarding ADA impacts as well as which organizations provide advocacy services in support to PWD from survey data collected from 1,582 US participants in 2010 (N = 866) and 2015 (N = 716).Findings>Results suggest that the ADA has had a positive impact on PWD, yet this law favorably affects people of certain demographics more than others. Moreover, people with and without disabilities have differing opinions on the impact of the ADA, suggesting that what is conveyed to the public and the impact of the ADA on real-life outcomes of PWD are sometimes misaligned.Originality/value>The present study helps add to the current body of knowledge on the impact of the ADA by providing perspectives on advocacy services and impacts from a diverse set of PWD and their counterparts without disabilities.

Benefits of a basic income for employees experiencing a mental health condition

[...]a basic income may have implications for alternative work arrangements and return-to-work practices such as extended unpaid leave and gradual return to work. [...]a basic income may help attenuate the risk associated with disclosing a mental health condition. [...]in many medical systems around the world, a general practitioner referral is frequently a requirement to see a mental health specialist. [...]the provision of a basic income may support employees in using available planned absence and gradual return-to-work policies by attenuating stress that is related to wage loss as well as avoiding compounding a reduction in working hours with financial barriers to seeking and maintaining treatment.

Covid Vaccine Mandates and Religious Accommodation in Employment.

Many employers are requiring their employees to be vaccinated for Covid-19 to comply with federal, state, or local laws, or to conform to employers' policies. Some employees object to vaccination on religious grounds. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment based on religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees' religious beliefs or practices unless doing so would be an undue hardship to the employer's business. Although a religion need not be an established faith with many followers, philosophical or political objections do not count as religious beliefs. If an employee demonstrates a bona fide religious objection, the issue is whether it can be reasonably accommodated. This will depend on the employer's business, including whether close contact with coworkers or customers is required.