Managing Disability at Work: Improving Practice in Organisations: (Disability and Rehabilitation)

Based on research in several large organizations, this book will be of use to personnel, training and line managers who are formulating or implementing disability and equal opportunity policies, running training for managers, supervisors and other staff, or reviewing personnel policies and practices to ensure that they do not discriminate against people with disabilities. Interviews with employees with disabilities, their supervisors and managers, and personnel, training and medical staff were analyzed to reveal the knowledge, information and skills needed by managers and supervisors, and the training and other organizational implications for employers. The second part of the book looks at disability management in an organization which was specifically set up to provide employment for people unlikely to find jobs in open employment. Sixty per cent of people who work in sheltered employment have jobs in remploy. In an industrial organization where eight out of every ten employees has a severe disability but which competes for customers and orders in a competitive market, the quality of its disability management is obviously a crucial issue. The results of in-depth interviews with staff in two remploy factories raised questions such as which areas of disability management are of concern to remploy's staff, both with and without disabilities, which aspects of disability management do staff feel happy about, do remploy's policies help or hinder efficient disability management and what can other organizations learn from remploy's experience?.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Background to the research: disability and employment in Britain; the need for more detailed guidance; recent developments; the local collaborative project; establishing a training program. Part 2 The research in four organizations: analysis of the interviews; applicability of findings; structure or report. Part 3 Disability and management training needs. Part 4 Priorities in meeting training needs: who needs training?; people with disabilities; immediate supervisors; more senior managers; specialist advisors; other groups; how to provide training. Part 5 Organizational issues: people's understanding of disability; whose responsibility is the management of disability at work?; communicating about disability issues; how can communication be improved?; the role of the policy in the management of disability at work; why should organizations have a policy with resources allocated to disability issues at work?. Part 6 Summary of recommendations: training; disability policy. Part 7 The need for knowledge and information. Part 8 Developing training in remploy. Part 9 Organizational issues: personnel procedures; safety procedures; aids and amputations; health and welfare. Part 10 The wider implications of the research. Appendices: collaborating partners; types of disability of people interviewed; additional types of disability; those interviewed in open employment organizations reported having experience of managing; remploy; other organizations visited or consulted.