Originally published here.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is choking the global econ-omy quicker and more severe than the 2007–2009 global financial cri-sis and the Great Depression (Hassan, Nandy, Roberts, Elamer, &Lodh, 2020; Roubini, 2020). At the time of the writing of this study,the unprecedented Covid-19 epidemic has already affected almost45 million people in 216 countries and territories and killed over1,181,000 people worldwide (World Bank, 2020). Subsequently, mostgovernments worldwide are positioning their people into severalforms of lockdown that lead to issues related to stress and mentalhealth.
As a result, this paper explores the financial implications ofoffering flexible working opportunities for people with mental disabil-ities (PWMDs) to give first-hand knowledge to all stakeholders and toadvance the application of sustainable development goals (SDGs).Meanwhile, there is emergent evidence of the global influence ofmental illness.
People with disabilities are deprived both economicallyand socially, suffering considerably weaker health consequences,higher rates of unemployment and poverty compared with their coun-terparts with no disability (World Health Organization [WHO], 2011).With more than 10 million people with a long-term disability in theUnited Kingdom, legislation (including the ‘Equality Act 2010’) has been enacted to offer disabled persons the same rights as non-disabled persons.
However, it is well known that persons with disabil-ities are left vulnerable to unemployment and job loss (Emerson,Hatton, Baines, & Robertson, 2018). There is a large employment gapas there are 81.7% of non-disabled people in employment and 51.7%for people with disabilities in employment, with the unemploymentrate for disabled increasing geometrically at 8 versus 3.3 (DisabilityRights UK, 2018).
This paper discusses how offering flexible workingopportunities to PWMDs can advance SDGs and its financial implica-tion to give first-hand knowledge to all stakeholders.Within the umbrella term of disability, there is a hierarchy ofacceptance. People with physical disabilities are highly accepted whilePWMDs struggle greatly to gain employment. Fairclough, Robinson,Nichols, and Cousley (2013) described a mentally disabled person assomeone who struggles with emotional or mental illness or has a spe-cific learning difficulty (including autism), brain syndromes or mentalretardation.
Statistically, the unemployment rate for PWMDs isapproximately 85% in the United Kingdom despite how much they tryto gain employment. People with hidden, unfamiliar or stigmatisedmental disabilities have greater barriers in both the workplace andsociety as jobs are only customised if the assignment directly benefitsthe business owner or their organisation (Meacham, Cavanagh,Bartram, & Laing, 2019).Mental disabilities are a global challenge affecting approximatelyone in four people at some stage in their life (Gmitroski et al., 2018).
Research shows that not many employers view mentally disabledpersons as employable or that the flexible accommodations, say,needed to be made, will be costly or not worthwhile as they are notable to make any meaningful contributions to the organisation. It isalso alleged that most employees with mental disabilities cannot servein some long-term shifts as demanded by many job specifications.However, there is yet to be documented literature on the extrafinancial implications or expenses for employer company(ies) provid-ing flexible working conditions for such PWMDs (especially schizo-phrenia, bipolar disorder and the autistic spectrum) in the academicliterature.It is important to note that the government is aware of thisemployment gap and has come up with modalities to increase employ-ment opportunities for PWMDs.
As palliative measures, the govern-ment through ‘Mind’administered a £4.2 million fund as part ofmental health consortia during the pandemic in May 2020 to enablevarious charity organisations to support PWMDs under them (DCMS,2020). There also is the ‘Five-Year Forward View for Mental Health’(Hutchinson, Gilbert, Papworth, & Boardman, 2018), which sets outplans to bridge the gap in employment.
However, this cannot bemeaningful if employers refuse to employ mentally disabled persons.Previous research suggests that there are significant gaps in theemployment rates between PWMDs and their neurotypical counter-parts and delves into some of the reasons behind this, includingstigma, historical bias and financial costs (Emerson et al., 2018; Schur,Kruse, Blasi, & Blanck, 2009); however, there is a great amount of datamissing on the true financial aspects of the employment of PWMDs.Furthermore, PWMDs may differ in their speed or timings or mayrequire different shift patterns or quiet workspaces, for instance, inaccomplishing the same ‘end result’—hence the reason for the flexibil-ities within such organisation. Regrettably, management sees these asunnecessary costs within their businesses and therefore chose not tohire them (Blanck, 2000).
Howbeit, there is no evidence showingthese acclaimed costs. This research aims to bridge this employabilitygap by bringing to bear the true essence of equal opportunities inworkplaces and to eliminate the ‘fear factor’among employers. Itwent further to x-ray the financial implications of offering flexibleworking opportunities for PWMD using data from our target audience(i.e. interviews from human resource managers [HRM] and financialmanagers [FM] and questionnaires from PWMDs) to give first-handknowledge to all stakeholders. It sought to give light to the govern-ment to help with the creation of better policies for the employers tosee the financial gains of creating flexible opportunities instead ofbeing clouded in the euphoria of mere historical bias towards PWMDas employees.
It was important to carry out this research as it showsthat although there are no flexible working opportunities at present,PWMDs are desperate for a change in the economy with an increasein employment opportunities and chances of promotions within thecompany.This study adds several contributions to the literature. Firstly, thisstudy shows the financial implications involved in employing PWMDin a country reported to register even more cases in the nearest futurewith an effort to demystifying employers' claim of excessive financialcosts.
Secondly, we suggest a way to bridge employability gaps andencourage independence, empowerment and total well-being of thePWMDs. According to Chen, Blankenship, Austin, Cantu, andKotbungkair (2016), having a sense of purpose while staying in a jobwill enable PWMDs to contribute positively within the society andhelp to reduce workplace discrimination. Lastly, public policies regard-ing employment statistics could be ratified to helping employersunderstand where they stand to gain (e.g. grants and tax rebates?) toadvance SDGs within the United Kingdom.
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