Disability coaching in a pandemic

Doyle, Nancy and Bradley, Emily (2023) Disability coaching in a pandemic. Journal of Work-Applied Management 15 (1), pp. 135-147. ISSN 2205-2062.

Abstract

Purpose: An applied study using convenience data was conducted to compare the experiences of neurodivergent adults undergoing workplace coaching before and during the pandemic. Design/Methodology/Approach: The naturally occurring opportunity permitted a comparison of face-to-face and remote coaching in three cohorts, pre-pandemic (100% face-to-face), forced remote (100% remote) and choice (remote or face-to-face; 85% selected remote). A total of 409 participants self-reported performance before and 12 weeks after completing an average of 11 hours coaching. Findings: Significant differences between before and after scores for performance, with large effect sizes, were reported for all three cohorts across six dependent variables: memory, time management, organisational skills, stress management, understanding neurodiversity and concentration. There was no significant difference between the cohorts in terms of the magnitude of the effect. We found significant differences between the cohorts in terms of which topics were chosen as foci for the coaching, with executive functions related topics becoming less popular in the choice cohort. Implications: We abductively reasoned our results to suggest a positive relationship between personalized environments and cognitive demands for this client group. We call for further, theoretically grounded research exploring the role of coaching and environment in understanding the work performance of neurodivergent adults at work. Originality: The study contributes to the emerging knowledge on the different experiences of in-person and video-mediated coaching. Our focus on neurodivergent employees, which are heretofore less well researched within the workplace, provides essential data to support practitioners in maximizing opportunity for a marginalized group.

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