Renée Edwards, Ph.D., Assistant Director at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development and Managing Director of the Employer Disability Practices Center, is the co-author of two recently published journal articles:

“Disability, Job Satisfaction, and Workplace Accommodations: Evidence from the Healthcare Industry” appears in the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. The article examines the extent to which job satisfaction, accommodation requests, and the likelihood of an accommodation request being granted vary by disability status. It also analyzes whether being granted workplace accommodations moderates the relationship between work satisfaction and disability. Results from the analyses conducted for this article show that people with disabilities have more negative perceptions of their work experiences than people without disabilities. The article also shows that fully granting accommodations can help close the disability gap in job satisfaction between people with and without disabilities.

“Work from Home and Job Satisfaction: Differences by Disability Status Among Healthcare Workers” appears in Disability and Health Journal. The article analyzes how different measures of job satisfaction vary between people with and without disabilities, and the extent to which working from home moderates the relationship between disability and job satisfaction. Results show that people with disabilities have relatively greater turnover intentions, a lower sense of organizational commitment and support, weaker perceptions of openness and inclusion in the workplace, and worse relations with management and co-workers. The findings suggest that some accommodations typically viewed as exceptions to meet the needs of people with disabilities have even greater benefits for the workforce at large, and because workers without disabilities also benefit from remote work, this accommodation should not be expected to close job satisfaction gaps caused by inequities.

Dr. Edwards’ co-authors on both articles are Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, Ph.D., Lisa Schur, Ph.D. and J.D., and Douglas Kruse, Ph.D., all of Rutgers University; Flora M. Hammond, M.D., Indiana University; andJennifer Cohen, Ph.D., Miami University.