Question

As a manager, how would you balance a disabled employee’s needs for a work adjustment to your need to design jobs that meet organizational performance goals?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) In order to properly juxtapose the duties of a disabled employee, ergonomics and other factors, one would have to consider a combination of factors. The essential elements to consider would be the type of disability, the job post and the input and output of the employee.

The needs of a blind employee would be fairly different from one who is confined to a wheelchair. Furthermore, if the employee is a graphic designer, it would entail different adjustments as that of a receptionist.

However, there are certain commonalities in each situation. For each situation, one would have to ensure that basic health and safety standards are taken care of in terms of the office cubicles, bathrooms, entrances, stairs and lifts etc. Once these basic issues are up to the required standards, it would only be a matter of the resources that the employee is offered to help them do their best work with as much ease as possible.

For instance, a blind employee would need the keyboards to have brail; an employee with a wheelchair would need to have wide entrances and doors etc. In order to best accommodate these unique disabilities, it would be essential to communicate well with the disabled employee and their doctor if necessary. This would ensure that the safety standards are prescribed by a professional. Also, the rest of the employees would have to be informed of any special assistance or considerations that they would need to offer this new employee.

Taking care of an employee with special needs would surely have to be a joint effort and not only that of the management. This would help boost the office morale and perhaps even increase camaraderie with the new employee and everyone else around. The Human Resources department would have to ensure that the tasks that the disabled employee is assigned are befitting their capabilities. This would also ensure that the tasks are well designed to accommodate the employee’s duties and needs.