Employers' attitude towards hiring persons with disabilities

• Main Authors: Othman, Siti Zubaidah, Abd Manaf, Abdul Razak, Ahmad Khairul, Aeisyah
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: HD28 Management. Industrial Management
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/23808/1/CBMM%202017%20763.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/23808/
• Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia

This qualitative study was conducted to explore employers’ attitude towards hiring persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Malaysia.Data regarding employers’ attitude towards hiring PWDs were captured through semistructured interview with 50 employed PWDs living in the states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang.Responses from the employed PWDs indicated that PWDs are still facing barriers in getting jobs and the difficulties to get a job were further contributed by employer negative perceptions.The findings indicated that employers are still skeptical about hiring PWDs even though they have gone tertiary education and acquired the appropriate qualifications and the necessary skills for the job.Instead, employers are still focusing on the disabilities of the applicant and often regard them as incapable of accomplishing tasks.The negative attitudes shown by the employers and co-workers towards the PWDs in this study indicate that there is still lack of appreciation of workers with disabilities in the workplace. Sadly, employers and co-workers failed to accept the fact that employees with disabilities also need to financially support themselves and their families.Based on responses gathered from the employed PWDs, several suggestions have been put forward to increase employers’ awareness towards PWDs.These include the need for government intervention to advocate, enhance and promote awareness among employers in both public and private sectors through impactful activities and programs nationwide, revision of PWDs related policy and incentive, increase job opportunity for PWDs, high accessibility towards education and training including governmentfunded TVET programs, and the need for training for managers in managing and dealing with PWDs.