Disability Inclusion in the Workplace: Perspectives of Romanian Human Resources Specialists

In Romania, people with disabilities (PWDs) represent 18% of the working-age population. Yet, participation in the workforce for PWDs is very low. This study is a cross-sectional, online survey of human resources (HR) specialists from 82 companies activating in Romania that aims to assess the extent to which companies hire PWDs, evaluate the perceived barriers to employing PWDs, and identify potential strategies to facilitate the employment of PWDs. Participants are mostly women (81.5%), are hired by companies located in Bucharest (42.7%), Cluj (15.9%), and Brasov (7.3%), and belong to the service sector of activity (61%). The 33/82 companies from the study that employ PWDs collectively hire 739 PWDs. After employing an individual with disabilities, 63.6% of the companies do not offer any type of training/workshops for typical employees. The most reported challenge in employing PWDs is the fact that qualified PWDs are hard to find (36.6%). The HR specialists mentioned that the most useful information that would persuade companies to hire PWDs would be information showing how employing PWDs has benefited other companies in the same sector (79.3%).