How do we ensure that people with disabilities are not bullied at places of work?

Equity Depth Local Relevance Feasibility
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Question & problem

Besides being underrepresented in the workforce globally, people with disabilities are more at risk of bullying, harassment and discrimination in places of work than people without disabilities. Bullying of people with disabilities at places of work is associated with negative outcomes that include emotional distress, low job productivity and satisfaction, and adverse economic consequences, especially in the worst-case scenario of dismissal from work due to disability. There is evidence that primary preventive interventions targeting employers/employees through promotional activities can mitigate the incidence of bullying against people with disabilities in occupational settings. This evidence brief summarizes what is known about the impact and interventions for preventing bullying of people with disabilities in places of work.

Quote

“The types of intervention aimed at changing the behaviour of employers that show most promise include financial incentives to hire disabled workers if suitably generous; support for making the work environment more accessible/flexible; and schemes to involve/require employers to participate in return-to-work planning”
[Clayton et al., 2012]

Recommendations

Strengthen policies against the culture of intolerance against bullying of people with disabilities at places of work.

Key recommendation

There is a need to strengthen policies and the culture of intolerance of bullying of people with disabilities at places of work

Action

  • Governments and policymakers should enact legal protection against violence and harassment against workers with disabilities as promoted by the International Labor Organizations (ILO), Convention No. 190 and Recommendation No. 206.
  • Public and private organizations should identify, design and implement theory-based interventions aimed at preventing mobbing or harassment of people with disabilities at their places of work, and in collaboration with local and international experts in disability research.
  • Governments need to set national/state-wide legislations, policies and standards of acceptable behaviour at places of work, which should be cascaded to all organizations for active implementation, for example, as provided by the guidelines for preventing and responding to workplace bullying in Australia.
  • Financial incentives and other forms of appreciation, for instance, awards or promotions, can be provided for employers who successfully implement the existing legal and institutional guidelines for protecting people with disabilities against harassment at places of work. Such incentives may also be extended to employees who adhere to these guidelines and also report incidences of bullying.
Provide a safe working environment which allows reasonable remediation when bullying is first identified

Key recommendation

Conducting risk assessments to identify potential predictors [amenable to interventions] for bullying of people with disabilities at places of work.

Action

  • Organizations should, through research and regular reporting and feedback, identify potential indicators of workplace bullying for people with disabilities to inform the design and implementation of effective preventive interventions.
  • Academic institutions should include the participation of people with disabilities to participate in and lead this research as this can provide more valuable information especially in defining the problem, developing valid and reliable assessment tools, and the data collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of the findings.
  • Evidence on the magnitude of workplace bullying should be disaggregated by the type/domain of disability and the different occupational settings in which they occur to provide evidence which might be unavailable in most places of work. Employers should engage people with disabilities and collaborate with experts in disability research on such assessments.
Conduct risk assessments to identify potential predictors for bullying of people with disabilities in workplaces

Key recommendation

Provision of a safe environment which allows reasonable mediation when bullying is first identified for remedial activities.

Action

  • Private and public organizations should adopt and implement a legal framework for addressing bullying at the organizational level by clearly defining what workplace bullying is, how to deal with it, and who should be responsible for mediation and remedial actions in the event bullying is first reported.
  • Practical guidelines on the legal requirements should be provided so that organizational policies can be implemented and the relevant employers held accountable in the event of non-compliance.
Target employers, employees, and other individuals who might perpetrate bullying through promotional activities in occupational settings

Key recommendation

Targeting employers and employees who might perpetrate bullying through promotional activities in occupational settings.

Action

  • There is a need to investigate whether organizational or employer-level interventions are effective in preventing bullying of people with disabilities at various places of work since employers play a critical role in implementing the legal and institutional frameworks for protection.
  • Monitoring and evaluation of psychosocial and ‘work-environment’ interventions are required to assess whether there is a reduction in workplace bullying of people with disabilities.
  • Promotional activities may include awareness programs and activities targeting employers, employees, and other individuals who might perpetrate bullying at places of work.

Challenges

Challenge #1: Little is still known about the consequences and impact of bullying of people with disabilities in various places of work.   

  • Workplace bullying occurs when there is an actual or perceived power imbalance in a working environment that has weak protective policies and a culture of intolerance for people with disabilities. People with disabilities may face direct discrimination due to their status, indirect discrimination such that disability causes a direct disadvantage or both. There are indications that workplace discrimination may be higher among women and people from minority groups who have disabilities.
  • Discrimination may be perpetrated as physical, emotional or sexual harassment, mobbing, negative stereotypes on productivity, the myth of “dangerousness”, verbal intimidation, abuse or 'name-calling', retaliation, disrespect, incivility, inaccessibility, exclusion, and failure to accommodate reasonable requests.
  • Stigma and stereotypes towards people with disability hamper research on this subject and prospects for work for the affected persons. In addition to under-reporting, few studies have examined workplace bullying of people with disabilities, perhaps because this problem may not be seen as a priority in most occupational settings.

Challenge #2: There is insufficient evidence on preventative interventions and their effectiveness in preventing bullying of people with disabilities at places of work in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs).

  • It is difficult to determine whether preventive interventions are effective due to the lack of rigorous and reliable research evidence, especially in resource-scarce settings. 
  • Existing evidence from high-income countries (HICs) suggests that interventions to influence policy and work environment might be effective; however, there is still a need for additional research evidence from both HICs and LMICs on this subject.
  • Much of the evidence from HICs is not directly applicable to LMICs because of cultural and resource differences and may need some contextualisation before implementation.
  • Challenges to implementing prevention interventions in LMICs include inadequate information about viable interventions, weak policy and legal environments, lack of supportive working environments, and discrimination and stereotyping against people with disabilities. 

Challenge #3: Limited participation of people with disabilities in research related to bullying at places of work in LMICs.

  • There is a need to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in and lead research on bullying at the workplace, in compliance with the mantra “nothing about us without us”. People with disabilities must be involved in the design of suitable interventions for these to be effective.
  • It is unclear whether people with disabilities have only participated as “research participants” or have been involved in all critical phases of the research process in LMICs, for instance, in co-design and co-development and co-evaluation of interventions for bullying in the workplace.
  • Globally, there is more research and interventions on physical disabilities, particularly on what is generally termed as “disability mainstreaming” while little focus has been given to workplace considerations due to cognitive and mental disabilities.

Finding the answers

We conducted a review of reviews and examined systematic, narrative and other types of reviews for evidence on the prevention of occupational harassment of people with disabilities. We searched PubMed, Embase, Psych Info, Cochrane, Campbell collaboration, ELDIS, and PDQ – Evidence databases to identify the relevant reviews. Overall, there is a paucity of evidence on interventions which prevent bullying of people with disabilities in workplaces. This evidence note is based on the findings of five reviews (2 systematic reviews, 2 critical reviews, and 1 scoping review) including a Cochrane review (primary studies conducted in high-income countries—HICs) which identified interventions to prevent bullying in the workplace (Gillen et al., 2017). In this review, however, only one out of five studies included interventions for people with disabilities. Our recommendations are contextualised based on this Cochrane review for people with disabilities in LMICs.

Recommendations & actions

Strengthen policies against the culture of intolerance against bullying of people with disabilities at places of work.

Key recommendation

There is a need to strengthen policies and the culture of intolerance of bullying of people with disabilities at places of work

Action

  • Governments and policymakers should enact legal protection against violence and harassment against workers with disabilities as promoted by the International Labor Organizations (ILO), Convention No. 190 and Recommendation No. 206.
  • Public and private organizations should identify, design and implement theory-based interventions aimed at preventing mobbing or harassment of people with disabilities at their places of work, and in collaboration with local and international experts in disability research.
  • Governments need to set national/state-wide legislations, policies and standards of acceptable behaviour at places of work, which should be cascaded to all organizations for active implementation, for example, as provided by the guidelines for preventing and responding to workplace bullying in Australia.
  • Financial incentives and other forms of appreciation, for instance, awards or promotions, can be provided for employers who successfully implement the existing legal and institutional guidelines for protecting people with disabilities against harassment at places of work. Such incentives may also be extended to employees who adhere to these guidelines and also report incidences of bullying.
Provide a safe working environment which allows reasonable remediation when bullying is first identified

Key recommendation

Conducting risk assessments to identify potential predictors [amenable to interventions] for bullying of people with disabilities at places of work.

Action

  • Organizations should, through research and regular reporting and feedback, identify potential indicators of workplace bullying for people with disabilities to inform the design and implementation of effective preventive interventions.
  • Academic institutions should include the participation of people with disabilities to participate in and lead this research as this can provide more valuable information especially in defining the problem, developing valid and reliable assessment tools, and the data collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of the findings.
  • Evidence on the magnitude of workplace bullying should be disaggregated by the type/domain of disability and the different occupational settings in which they occur to provide evidence which might be unavailable in most places of work. Employers should engage people with disabilities and collaborate with experts in disability research on such assessments.
Conduct risk assessments to identify potential predictors for bullying of people with disabilities in workplaces

Key recommendation

Provision of a safe environment which allows reasonable mediation when bullying is first identified for remedial activities.

Action

  • Private and public organizations should adopt and implement a legal framework for addressing bullying at the organizational level by clearly defining what workplace bullying is, how to deal with it, and who should be responsible for mediation and remedial actions in the event bullying is first reported.
  • Practical guidelines on the legal requirements should be provided so that organizational policies can be implemented and the relevant employers held accountable in the event of non-compliance.
Target employers, employees, and other individuals who might perpetrate bullying through promotional activities in occupational settings

Key recommendation

Targeting employers and employees who might perpetrate bullying through promotional activities in occupational settings.

Action

  • There is a need to investigate whether organizational or employer-level interventions are effective in preventing bullying of people with disabilities at various places of work since employers play a critical role in implementing the legal and institutional frameworks for protection.
  • Monitoring and evaluation of psychosocial and ‘work-environment’ interventions are required to assess whether there is a reduction in workplace bullying of people with disabilities.
  • Promotional activities may include awareness programs and activities targeting employers, employees, and other individuals who might perpetrate bullying at places of work.

Policy priorities

Although specific recommendations are lacking from LMICs, existing literature suggests potential avenues for policy action can be leveraged to address bullying of people with disabilities at places of work.  An inclusive legal and regulatory framework can outline various legislative definitions and rights for people with disabilities in workplaces while an accompanying action plan aimed at its implementation in various occupational environments (targeting employers, other employees and people with disabilities at places of work) is critical in informing the early identification of bullying, and identification and implementation of evidence-based preventative and remedial interventions. For these policies to be effective and inclusive of the needs of people with disabilities, they must involve representation and co-production with targeted groups at all stages of development through to dissemination.

Conclusion

There is limited evidence synthesis from low-and middle-income countries on approaches to the prevention of bullying of people with disabilities at places of work, which may imply the absence of primary research and buy-in from various occupational settings and stakeholders on this subject. Evidence and recommendations from high-income countries may inform future work in LMICs of the interplay between various determinants in the initiation and perpetration of bullying of people with disabilities at places of work. But the evidence will need adaptation to suit the local challenges and needs in terms of local cultures and limited resources. Nonetheless, evidence suggests some actions which are required to address workplace bullying of people with disabilities as those aimed at (a) ensuring an inclusive legal and policy environment is in place to prevent discrimination against the rights of people with disabilities, (b) implementation of these legal and policy requirements in all organisations, (c) early identification of bullying, and (d) implementation of evidence-based preventive and remedial actions specific to different kinds of workplaces.

Gaps & research needs

There is an urgent need for research identifying interventions which prevent bullying of people with varied types of disabilities in places of work in LMICs. These interventions need to be tested for their efficacy when implemented at societal, organizational and individual levels

Primary studies reporting societal or policy-level interventions are required, for instance, whether existing governmental laws, policies and regulatory frameworks prevent bullying of people with disabilities at places of work.

Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge the DEP team at the London School of Hygiene at Tropical Medicine, UK, and particularly my mentor Ms Onaiza Qureshi, and the funders for this supporting this important work.

Included sources

  1. Gillen PA, Sinclair M, Kernohan WG, Begley CM, Luyben AG. Interventions for prevention of bullying in the workplace. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017; 2017:CD009778. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009778.pub2.
  2. Clayton S, Barr B, Nylen L, Burstrom B, Thielen K, Diderichsen F, et al. Effectiveness of return-to-work interventions for disabled people: A systematic review of government initiatives focused on changing the behaviour of employers. European Journal of Public Health 2012; 22:434–9. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckr101.
  3. McDowell C, Fossey E. Workplace accommodations for people with mental illness: A scoping review. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 2015; 25:197–206. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-014-9512-y.
  4. McGrath L, Jones RSP, Hastings RP. Outcomes of anti-bullying intervention for adults with intellectual disabilities. Res Dev Disabil 2010; 31:376–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2009.10.006.
  5. Murfitt K, Crosbie J, Zammit J, Williams G. Employer engagement in disability employment: A missing link for small to medium organizations-a review of the literature. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 2018; 48:417–31. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-180949.
  6. Procknow G, Rocco TS. The unheard, unseen, and often forgotten: An examination of disability in the human resource development literature. Human Resource Development Review 2016; 15:379–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484316671194.

Publication details: Disability Evidence Portal, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, October 2022.

Suggested citation: Jonathan A. Abuga. Evidence Brief: How do we ensure that people with disabilities are not bullied at places of work? Disability Evidence Portal, 2022.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are those of the author/s and should not be attributed to Disability Evidence Portal and/or its funders.