Abstract:

Employers are interested in hiring people with disabilities as long as it is consistent with their economic calculation. It is generally known that in many cases this poses a special challenge considering numerous aspects of enterprises’ functioning, especially the ones operating on a market basis. The competitiveness of people with disabilities depends on their health condition, type of disorder and its intensity. Regarding the disabled, their employment, as a rule, should take place in protected conditions or requires providing special work environment. Practice shows that many employers who do not operate in the protected labor market are not interested in employing such individuals. The quota system is intended, in a way, to compel employers to employ a certain percentage of people with disabilities under the threat of financial penalties, whereas in turn, it encourages business cooperation with employers who hire a particularly high percentage of such people, generally operating within a protected labor market.
The research purpose was an attempt to identify costs and benefits, opportunities and risks for the organizations involved in the employment of people with disabilities in the context of human resource management and the quota system of employment. For the purposes of the study, the following research hypothesis was formulated: the employment of people with disabilities poses a significant organizational challenge that the majority of employers are unable to meet, even when facing the threat of paying financial penalties under the quota system. The temporal scope of the study covers the period 2018-2024. The subjective scope addresses Polish employers with at least 25 full-time equivalent employees. The following research methods were used: critical analysis of the source literature and legal acts, statistical analysis, induction and deduction method. In addition, the graphical and tabular method of presenting statistical data were applied. The main conclusions reached by the authors confirmed the formulated hypothesis. Some employers are willing to hire people with disabilities, however, for most of them it constitutes a major organizational and financial challenge in relation to the financial benefits or even penalties.