What makes deaf employees stay and quit?

Abstract

People with disabilities are largely marginalized and experienced economic exclusion for various reasons. Aside from employers’ negative perception towards people with disabilities, they also have the fear of costs and legal liabilities which may arise from employing disabled employees. Moreover, as a result of social exclusion at family, community/social, and institutional/state levels, people with disabilities have a lower chance of participating in the labour market not only because they lack the necessary skills and education and have low self-esteem, but also because the workplace environment is unfavourable. This research was conducted to explore whether these factors apply to deaf employees in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Deaf people were chosen for this research among other types of disabilities because they are highly preferred by the employers, and thus more likely to be employed. Nevertheless, their participation in the labour market is still significantly low. Qualitative methods were employed for this research whereby interviews were conducted with fourteen deaf employees (assisted by sign language interpreters). The findings revealed three major themes – organizational, individual and labour market factors as the cause of deaf employees staying or leaving the company. In brief, deaf employees stay because the job suits them, they are satisfied with the salary and the working environment, receive fair treatment, able to communicate and have good relationship with colleagues and superiors, have patience and able to adapt to changes in the workplace, and also because alternative employments are scarce for them. On the flipside, deaf employees quit or intent to quit because of communication difficulties, poor relationship with others, being bullied and discriminated at work, unsatisfied with the salary and career development opportunities, unfavourable working conditions, job stress, job boredom, and feeling excluded at the workplace. This research concludes that awareness, acceptance and learning sign language are among the ways to create a more inclusive workplace for deaf employee in specific.