HIRE? A mixed-method examination of disability and employers inclusive working life practices

The main objective of the HIRE project is to contribute new knowledge on employers? attitudes and practices towards jobseekers with disabilities. The project includes four working packages (WPs). HIRE was carried out in close collaboration with partners from Sweden and the US, representatives from NAV Working Life Centers in Akershus and Rogaland, the Norwegian Association of Youth with Disabilities, LO, NHO Service and Trade, and Spekter. The first WP has contributed new knowledge on discrimination against jobseekers with disabilities. Three field experiments have been carried out, two in Norway and one in Sweden. Paired fictitious job applications were sent to advertised positions in the private sector. The results from the field experiments show that applicants who signalled disability in the job application were discriminated against. Jobseekers who signalled that they were wheelchair users had to apply for about twice as many jobs, while jobseekers who signalled mental health problems had to apply for 1.4 times as many jobs before they got an invitation to a job interview. The field experiment on mental health discrimination was conducted before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results do not indicate that the pandemic affected the level of discrimination. Based on the Norwegian field experiments, there is a tendency that companies with more than 100 employees discriminate wheelchair users less. Preliminary results from Sweden show that wheelchair users are discriminated against, but the level seems to be lower than in Norway. The second WP has contributed new knowledge on employers? selection preferences. A total of 38 qualitative interviews have been conducted with employers who participated in the Norwegian field experiments. The most prominent explanations for discriminatory behaviour included considerations of both productivity and social factors. Productivity considerations as reasons for discriminatory behaviour included concerns about whether workers with disabilities are sufficiently efficient, whether they had a higher risk of sick leave and less mental presence at work. Social considerations were related to perceived difficulties in including wheelchair users in social gatherings outside the office, or that employees with mental health problems might be more sensitive and mentally unstable, and thus have a negative influence on the working environment. More inclusive employers focused to a larger extent on competence and emphasized that persons with disabilities contribute to diversity at the workplace. The third WP has contributed new knowledge about the association between employers? experience and obligations for inclusion of persons with disabilities (through the IA Agreement and the Inclusion Dugnad). In this WP, two employer surveys and qualitative interviews with employers participating in the field experiments as well as with 10 state employers have been used. The results from the first survey show a tendency that employers with an IA Agreement are more concerned about including young people with a former period of mental health problems. On the other hand, this proportion is rather low, which may indicate that inclusion of this group is not central to the companies? inclusion policy. The interviews with the state employers thematized the Inclusion Dugnad and the introduction of the quota requiring Norwegian state employers to ensure that 5 per cent of new hires are disabled or have a gap in their resumé. The findings show that the employers typically were passive, and in some instances dismissive, of the Inclusion Dugnad. The main obstacles that were identified were a conflict between the goals of the Inclusion Dugnad and the productivity standards that govern the public sector. The fourth WP has contributed new knowledge on employers? hiring decisions in practice. This WP has a comparative part based on qualitative interviews with employers participating in the field experiments in Norway, 10 Norwegian state employers, and 11 US employers, in addition to observations of job interviews for a government trainee position in Norway. The findings shed light on how anti-discrimination employment laws and policies are at peril of merely reflecting a symbolic gesture of inclusion among US employers in the interview phase compared to Norwegian state employers. Findings from the qualitative analyses and the observations, indicate that hiring disabled people is portrayed as a charitable act and that employers in hiring situations do not addressing disability as an asset.

HIRE-prosjektet har bidratt med økt kunnskap om funksjonsnedsettelse og diskriminering. Prosjektdeltakerne har fått en kompetanseheving, gjennom 8 publiserte artikler, to doktorgrader, to mastergrader og flere artikler under vurdering, som også har bidratt til en akademisk impact utenfor Norge. Prosjektet har opparbeidet nettverk til en rekke brukerorganisasjoner og internasjonale nettverk som har vært viktig for nye to NFR-prosjekter, to Bufdir-prosjekter og en innsendt EU-søknad. For å nå et bredere publikum har vi bidratt med kronikker, intervjuer i radio og aviser og etablert et forskningsnettverk med hjemmeside: https://www.oslomet.no/om/nova/nettverk-forskning-funksjonshemming. Bufdir har publisert resultater på hjemmesiden, FFO har benyttet resultatene til en inkluderingskampanje, og Likestillings- og mangfoldutvalgets bruker resultatene i sitt pågående arbeid. Dette vil ha betydning for informasjon til forvaltning og politikkutformere.

Employers' understandings of disability and their competencies are likely to influence their risk assessments and hiring practices. Nonetheless, current knowledge about these issues remains insufficient. This project aims to fill this knowledge gap. HIRE covers the main steps in the hiring processes, from assessments of job applications to hiring decisions. Step 1 reveals the screening of job applicants through field experiments among employers in Sweden and Norway, gauging how institutional differences, variations within industries, and the type of disability (psychosocial or physical) affect the outcome. Step 2 provides insights into the factors behind the selection preferences from interviews with employers participating in the experiment in both Sweden and Norway and in the selected industries. Step 3 measures the impacts of information on knowledge, attitudes, and hiring preferences through a nudging experiment (nudge: information on support from the public employment services, NAV) among IA (inclusive working life) companies. Step 4 provides insights into how legislation influences employers' hiring decisions through observations of job interviews in the US and Norway, with candidates with and without disabilities (both male and female) and subsequent interviews with employers and applicants. HIRE responds to the key requirements of HELSEVEL's major goals by i) targeting young adults with psychosocial disabilities, ii) conducting comparative studies, iii) engaging in collaboration between institutions and the research group, and iv) including an interdisciplinary research team of experts from Norway, Sweden, and the US. The research team members have professional backgrounds in sociology, economics, anthropology, psychology, and law. Finally, the project aims to complement prior research by developing and implementing new methods in the field of disability research and beginning to fill a critical gap in the evidence base that hampers effective policy change.