Offering jobs to persons with disabilities: A Dutch employers’ perspective

Abstract

The study investigates which considerations employers take into account in response to a social policy measure that requires employers to hire persons with disabilities (PwD). It also looks at if and how employers shape their human resource practices dependent of their organisational context. The decision to hire PwD was theoretically positioned in the Contextual Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Framework. In a qualitative study carried out among 38 Dutch employers who are inclusive, or are having a positive, neutral or negative attitude to employing PwD, three questions were explored: (1) Which strategic issues in response to a social policy measure do employers consider in their decision (not) to hire PwD?; (2) Which conditions have to be met to assess the organisational setting to be suitable to hire PwD?; (3) How do employers hire PwD aligned with their overall HRM system? This article provides evidence that employers respond in a contextual and strategic way to an institutional pressure, and that they assess different levels of fit (environmental, strategic, organization and internal fit) in their considerations to hire PwD. A customised approach is therefore needed in motivating employers to hire PwD which is based on different HRM perspectives.