Employers' disability management activities: Descriptors and an exploratory test of the financial incentives hypothesis

This paper describes and analyzes results from a survey of disability management activities of 273 employers. Respondents were primarily medium and large firms from all regions of the country and a variety of industries. Results indicated that two disability management strategies recently endorsed in the literature, frontline manager involvement and contracting with outside vendors to integrate disability management responsibilities, were implemented only by a minority of respondents. Statistical analyses were used to test the hypothesis that financial incentives, and (specifically) employers' perceived exposure to disability and other fringe benefit costs, would predict implementation of disability management efforts. Almost all statistically significant findings supported this general hypothesis.