Rethinking Workplace Inclusion and Well-being: Challenging Ableism in Modern Workplaces

10th International Critical Management Studies (CMS) Conference 2017 Time to radically re Time to radically re- -think workplace inclusion and well inclusion and well- -being: developing a strategy to challenge ableism in a strategy to challenge ableism in contemporary neo contemporary neo- -liberal workplaces workplaces think workplace being: developing liberal Deborah Foster (Prof. of Employment Relations & Diversity)

Central question: what would an inclusive model of workplace well-being look like? Intention is to take forward debates in: 1. Foster and Wass (2013) Disability in the labour market: an exploration of concepts of the ideal worker and organisational fit that disadvantage employees with impairments . Sociology 47(4): 705 21. 2. Foster, D (2017, early view) The Health and Well-being at work agenda: good news for (disabled) workers or just a capital idea? Work, Employment & Society.

Employers & the state are interested in defining a generic ideal worker & one best way of working. Scientific work studies and job design standardise work roles. Workers become abstracted and disembodied fromjobs. Analysed taken-for-granted organisational behaviour using ET scripts, highlighting ableist norms and assumptions. Concluded: the organisation of work has become increasingly complex. Standardised performance expectations make it difficult for disabled people to achieve organisational fit . Concepts of the ideal worker and organisational fit have disadvantaged employees with impairments (Foster & Wass, 2013)

A radical re-think of work that goes beyond inventing an abstract job to fit an ideal employee, or adapting this ideal to accommodate a person with an impairment. A strategy to challenge embedded ableist ways of working in areas of job design, recruitment, career progression/advancement, retention and retirement. Workplace well-being agendas need to be reclaimed from management consultants and HR and collectivised, using co-production to effectively integrate disabled people. What is needed?

H&WB terminology uncritically embedded in HRM and academic vocabularies. Employer H&WB initiatives focus on individual employees and improving employee resilience , rather than exploring workplace problems. UK Labour Force Surveys show that work-related stress, depression and anxiety are a prime cause of work-related ill- health. A social model of workplace WB is needed, which focuses on social and collective barriers, to counter employer initiatives that medicalize and individualise. Value-judgements in current H&WB programmes are oppressive: reinforcing normalcy & ableism; judge worker life- styles; encourage ideal worker expectations around a specific view of the body and of mental and emotional well-being. Employer discourses on workplace health and well-being (H&WB) dominate

In an era of longer hours and shorter contracts, of tighter margins and frequent organizational change, stress can undermine both the mental health and performance of employees. A culture of resilience in the workplace, however, offers the potential to support psychological wellbeing and improve the performance of both people and organizations . Academic books on workplace resilience

Resilience = a sense of recovery and rebounding despite adversity or change (Lewis et al., 2011: 3). BUT, resilience promotes the idea that optimism is an essential and learned behaviour (Cotton, 2012: 7). This logic appeals to governments pursuing austerity and seeking to justify reductions in welfare to the undeserving poor . Joseph (2013: 40 43) argues: resilience represents a form of neo-liberal governmentality. This takes the form of prioritizing the management and adaptability of the self, subjectivity and individual responsibility, thus facilitating governmentality from a distance . Resilience is a neo-liberal discourse (see Foster, 2017)

In 2014/15, stress accounted for 35 per cent of all work- related ill-health cases and 43 per cent of all working days lost due to ill-health in the UK (LFS reported in HSE, 2015 2 6). Key reported causes of work-related stress are increased workloads (tight deadlines, too much pressure/responsibility), lack of managerial support; violence and role uncertainty (LFS 2009/10 2011/12, reported in HSE, 2015: 7). Types of work & stress: in 2015, the UK HSE found professional occupations (often associated with discretion and autonomy) had significantly higher rates of work related stress than the rate for all occupations (HSE, 2015: 5). Workplace stress: the contemporary epidemic .

The UK TUC: HR-led H&WB initiatives are increasingly being used as a means of bypassing union statutory workplace H&S representatives. Trade union perspectives on H&WB at work programmes TUC describe H&WB programmes as: a convenient label for almost any health related initiative (TUC, 2013: 2). Some unions have produced workplace wellbeing toolkits to highlight healthy working practices: flexible working, work life balance, participation and consultation, workplace adjustments. Reframing well-being debates in this way is important, providing alternatives to austerity and lean management, ideal worker discourses.

It would question definitions of H&WB that refer to a norm of physical, mental and emotional health: What might an inclusive model of H&WB look like? if we rethink our assumptions about the universality of the concept of the norm, what we might arrive at is the concept that preceded it: that of the ideal (Davis, 2006: 4) It would normalise difference rather than expect assimilation It would question the current assumption that if a person is not suitable for a job because of an impairment it can be adjusted and instead ask: how do we adjust a role to suit the talents of the person?

Rejects a narrow individualized and medicalized account of health and disability. Problematizes impairments and their effects within a social, collective and political context Offers a political critique of disabling social relationships in work that arise directly from socio- historic material conditions embedded in capitalism The advantages of using a critical disability studies lens

In countries where wage subsidies dominate as a way of integrating disabled people into the labour market, how can this proposed agenda work? Questions to the audience! What could the role of HR and trade unions be?