Independent Study - Work Disability Issue

Independent Study – Work Disability Issue (Assignment #2)
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Independent Study – Work Disability Issue (Assignment #2)
The study's findings on the workplace health challenges affecting nonprofit organizations that offer services to individuals with disabilities revealed several impediments to sustainable operations. Some of the challenges affecting special needs nonprofit organizations include financial constraints, inability to cope with increasing service demand, high attrition rates among employees and volunteers, insufficient employee training, and unequal diversity and inclusion. A majority of charitable organizations catering to people with special needs face declining income and are unable to ensure the financial viability of their operations in the next year. The economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have severely impacted traditional ways of fundraising, and many special needs nonprofit organizations are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels of fundraising. The pandemic also compromised the health and livelihoods of people living with disabilities, thereby causing a heightened demand for special needs services.
Many charitable organizations are struggling with the growing demand for help and support from this marginalized group: many individuals and families rely on the help and support of special needs nonprofit organizations as they cope with the impact of the pandemic and navigate their lives back to normal. Another pressing challenge facing nonprofit organizations that offer services to individuals with disabilities is employee retention. Many charitable organizations are seeing high attrition rates among their employees and volunteer numbers. Due to the financial constraints facing special needs nonprofit organizations, a majority cannot provide the same competitive compensation packages offered by corporate firms. As a result, many organizations deal with employee and volunteer retention even as demand for their services increases. Tied to this issue is insufficient training among staff: faced with competing service demands, nonprofit organizations that offer services to individuals with disabilities are often forced to give low priority to employee training.
This challenge adversely impacts the quality of service given to people with special needs. There is also the problem of unequal diversity and inclusion. While special needs nonprofit organizations have strived to include people with disabilities in the workplace, the inclusion of minority groups and the LGBT population has been delayed owing to restricted staffing capacity and inadequate financial resources. The study by Windon et al. (2022) highlights the challenge of training staff and volunteers providing personal services among special needs nonprofit organizations. Charitable organizations manage staff and volunteers, two workforces with varying characteristics, and sometimes managing the two groups to deliver high-quality services can be challenging. Securing the commitment and motivation of both staff and volunteers to meet the long-term goals of the nonprofit organizations can be a challenge owing to limited resources. Special needs nonprofit organizations find it difficult to retain employees owing to salary caps, excessive workloads, and limited upward mobility.
Besides, the human resource management systems used in the corporate world are inapplicable in the charitable organization context since staff and volunteers are often motivated by values and beliefs, which affect the quality of services they give. The study by Leoni et al. (2021) illustrates the financial impact of ensuring organizational trustworthiness on mission impact among special needs nonprofit organizations. A majority of nonprofit organizations that cater to people living with disabilities are hamstrung by the fiscal probity signaling behavior required to demonstrate trustworthiness. Many charity organizations face severe financial constraints and therefore must show organizational trustworthiness when seeking financial support. The study suggests that while increasing organizational trustworthiness and financial management as intended, nonprofit financial management may affect mission impact. Nonprofit organizations end up sacrificing a significant part of their mission impact. Strict fiscal probity norms such as fiscal leanness, overhead minimization, and debt avoidance severely limit the reach and scope of special needs nonprofit organizations.
The study paper by Bhopal (2020) illustrates the challenge of growing service demand among nonprofit organizations serving marginalized communities. Most charitable organizations serving low-income and sidelined populations tend to operate with a model where more services do not always result in higher revenue. Therefore, the increased demand brought about by the Covid-19 ...