Lake Betsy, Maidment David W
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
Work. 2023;76(2):437-451. doi: 10.3233/WOR-220622.
While employers plan how to restructure working practices after the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that the disability community are represented in research addressing remote working (or telework); their expertise is invaluable for ensuring equity from the outset.
The current study qualitatively investigated how people with physical disabilities negotiate telework in a post-COVID era.
Ten participants with a range of physical disabilities were recruited and interviewed. Themes were generated from the data utilising an established method of reflexive inductive thematic analysis.
Increased flexibility as well as control over work schedules and the environment facilitated by teleworking, improved participants' disability management, health, work performance, and personal opportunities. However, the importance of choice to work in-office, of implementing additional physical and virtual work adjustments, and of flexible work patterns to remove barriers to accessibility when homeworking was emphasised. Active efforts by employers to create an inclusive and flexible work culture were identified as crucial to ensure that integration and professional development of employees with disabilities, understanding of disability experience, and normalisation of accessibility needs are not diminished by the decreased visibility incurred by teleworking.
Teleworking is not a panacea for resolving the disability employment disadvantage. Rather, teleworking could be a springboard upon which further flexibility and choice can be built to shift organisational practices to better accommodate individual employees, with and without disabilities, post-COVID. It is imperative to act on such insights to create accessible workplaces to facilitate more inclusive workforces.
当雇主们在对新冠疫情的初步应对之后规划如何重组工作方式时，残疾人群体必须在关于远程工作（或远程办公）的研究中得到体现；他们的专业知识对于从一开始确保公平性而言非常宝贵。
本研究定性调查了身体残疾者在新冠后时代如何协商远程工作。
招募并采访了10名患有不同身体残疾的参与者。利用既定的反思性归纳主题分析法从数据中生成主题。
远程工作带来的灵活性增加以及对工作时间表和工作环境的掌控，改善了参与者的残疾管理、健康状况、工作表现和个人机会。然而，强调了选择在办公室工作、进行额外的实体和虚拟工作调整以及采用灵活工作模式以消除在家工作时的无障碍障碍的重要性。雇主积极努力营造包容和灵活的工作文化被认为对于确保残疾员工的融入和职业发展、对残疾经历的理解以及无障碍需求的常态化不因远程工作导致的可见度降低而受到影响至关重要。
远程工作并非解决残疾就业劣势的万灵药。相反，远程工作可以成为一个跳板，在此基础上进一步构建灵活性和选择，以转变组织实践，更好地适应新冠疫情后有残疾和无残疾的个体员工。必须根据这些见解采取行动，创建无障碍的工作场所，以促进更具包容性的劳动力。
