The Role of the Employer in Supporting Work Participation of Workers with Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review Using an Interdisciplinary Approach

Purpose There is growing awareness that the employer plays an important role in preventing early labor market exit of workers with poor health. This systematic review aims to explore the employer characteristics associated with work participation of workers with disabilities. An interdisciplinary approach was used to capture relevant characteristics at all organizational levels. Methods To identify relevant longitudinal observational studies, a systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO and EconLit. Three key concepts were central to the search: (a) employer characteristics, (b) work participation, including continued employment, return to work and long-term work disability, and (c) chronic diseases. Results The search strategy resulted in 4456 articles. In total 50 articles met the inclusion criteria. We found 14 determinants clustered in four domains: work accommodations, social support, organizational culture and company characteristics. On supervisor level, strong evidence was found for an association between work accommodations and continued employment and return to work. Moderate evidence was found for an association between social support and return to work. On higher organizational level, weak evidence was found for an association between organizational culture and return to work. Inconsistent evidence was found for an association between company characteristics and the three work outcomes. Conclusions Our review indicates the importance of different employer efforts for work participation of workers with disabilities. Workplace programs aimed at facilitating work accommodations and supervisor support can contribute to the prevention of early labor market exit of workers with poor health. Further research is needed on the influence of organizational culture and company characteristics on work participation.

What, Then, for 21st-Century Places?

We draw together from Chapters 2–6 many of the factors that will push and pull activities and people to and from our cities over the next few decades. For the great World Cities, the future looks like continued employment growth overall, but reduced dependence on large floorplates and serried ranks of desks. Digitisation will bite ever deeper, and give greater flexibility to support home- and remote-workers, but the wider benefits of agglomeration and clustering will still work in favour of these cities. For other places, the challenges are even greater: ranging down from the other major conurbations to freestanding market towns, medium-sized former industrial towns, places in the hinterlands of the World Cities, and University Towns as a particular form of advanced service centre. All will need careful understanding of scale, location and interrelationships in creating effective public policy for cities and regions - with implications for developers, investors and policymakers alike.

Factors associated with the employment status of breast cancer survivors: a single center cross-sectional study

Background: Breast cancer survivors constitute a big proportion among all female cancer survivors and the employment status of breast cancer survivors is an important public health issue. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of some demographic properties and the treatment modalities used for breast cancer on patients’ employment status.Methods: This is a single-center cross-sectional study. We assessed 2550 patients with breast cancer for eligibility. Face to face interview was performed with 688 breast cancer survivors. A total of 249 patients who had an income-generating job before diagnosis and completed at least 1 year after surgery and/or adjuvant radiotherapy, chemotherapy for breast cancer were included in the study. The job loss rate of the patients was evaluated according to their demographics, clinical features and treatment methods applied for breast cancer. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used in order to show these associations.Results: The job loss rate of the whole study group was 49.4% (n=123). Adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with continued employment, however, neither adjuvant chemotherapy nor hormone therapy had no association. Higher level of education, higher household income, being a public officer, and having a breast-conserving surgery was associated with continued employment in breast cancer survivors.Conclusions: The prior employment as a private sector employee should not be a determinant for losing job. Therefore, improvements or modifications should be made for this factor in order to keep breast cancer survivors in working life.

Claim, blame, shame: how risk undermines authenticity in social work

Mark Hardy, author of this chapter, argues that the highly charged context in which practice occurs means that because of unrealistic expectations of infallibility social work decision-making has taken on an existential character. He elaborates on why this is so, accounting for how risk, blame and shame intersect both practically and emotionally, as well as the value of existential thinking in enabling practitioners to preserve the authenticity of their practice. Social workers themselves practice in a risk-averse climate, very much aware that ‘poor judgement’ can and does lead to disciplinary action, with all that this entails in terms of professional repute, social standing and continued employment. The author suggests some potential responses to questions regarding how practitioners might cope with the expectations organisations and service users have of them.

The Influence of Household Pension Wealth, Partner’s Health and Spousal Employment Status on Heterogeneous Early Retirement Transitions among Women in England

Continued employment in later life is important for economic well-being and health, and is a key policy issue. However, existing models of the determinants of extended working life do not provide a detailed account of coupled women’s early retirement patterns in the United Kingdom. This article uses data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to show that partnered women aged between 50 and 59 do not adjust the timing of their labour force exit according to the level of pension wealth the couple has accrued. A retired or inactive spouse, caring obligations and poor health accelerate employment exit. Moreover, the odds of an involuntary exit from the labour force, where women have limited control or choice over the timing, are higher for women in lower pension wealth households than those in high wealth families, and among women with inactive rather than retired partners.

Der nachträgliche Wegfall des Arbeitsplatzes als Einwendung

The right to continued employment is designed to protect employees and is of great practical importance. In practice, employers frequently try to refuse to satisfy this right within the framework of foreclosure proceedings by arguing that they were unable to satisfy an employee’s right to continued employment because their job no longer existed. This work illustrates whether and under which conditions the loss of a job in this way can justify either such reasoning according to section 275, para. 1 of the BGB, Germany’s civil code, or the right to refuse an employee’s services according to section 275, para. 2 or 3 of the BGB. The book deals with the various ways an employer can be released from the obligation of offering continued employment under the BetrVG, the German Works Council Constitutional Act, pursuant to section 102, para. 5, No. 1–3, and it describes in detail under what conditions an employee can be adjudged to be an economically unreasonable burden pursuant to section 102, para 5, No. 2 of the BetrVG.