Helping People with Disabilities in the Workplace: Mezzo-Level Interventions Targeting Corporate Culture.

Abstract

This article explores the relevance of mezzo-level interventions to help people with disabilities improve their employability. It begins with an overview of the micro-mezzo-macro spectrum in the context of vocational rehabilitation services and shows that corporate culture plays a critical role in determining the employment outcomes of people with disabilities. This case study, a collaborative project of two business enterprises in Hong Kong, illustrates the benefits brought by a mezzo-level intervention for people with disabilities. Feedback collected from eight participating staff members from the two companies revealed that such collaboration can facilitate disability-friendly work environments. By promoting workplace inclusion through three main factors-attitudes, skills, and knowledge-social workers helped support the participating staff members who worked with people with disabilities. The staff participants gained a more accurate understanding of the characteristics of people with disabilities, and better workplace accommodations were provided for employees with special needs. The experiences reported by the participants in this project suggest that social workers' scope of practice should be expanded to mezzo-level interventions to target corporate culture.