Measuring the impact of an organizational inclusion programme on absence among employees with disabilities: A quasi-experimental design

Abstract

This article presents research on an organizational inclusion programme aiming to reduce absenteeism due to illness and injury among employees with disabilities. Qualitative fieldwork on the programme's characteristics was followed by a quasi-experimental design with two control groups (non-equivalent and no-treatment) using abbreviated time series (2005–12). The data of employees with disabilities who participated in the programme were compared with those of non-participants and of employees without disabilities, through a hierarchical non-nested negative binomial regression with a lagged outcome variable. The authors find strong evidence of a reduction in absence due to illness among participant employees with disabilities, and somewhat weaker evidence of reduced absence due to injury.