Access to flexibility I-deals: The case of autistic individuals

Abstract

This study examines access to i-deals for autistic employees at work. We draw on a mixed methods approach consisting of 300 qualitative surveys and 12 semi-structured interviews with autistic individuals in employment. The findings show that autistic individuals desire especially flexibility i-deals but find it challenging to negotiate them. We contribute to the literature on i-deals that has focused mainly on its outcomes by studying access to such personalized arrangements and positioning this negotiation as a social process between autistic workers and their employers. Second, we extend the literature on the dark sides of i-deals by drawing on critical disability studies, ableism, and power dynamics to reveal its potentially inequality-enhancing character for autistic employees. Third, we contribute to multilevel models of workplace inequality by highlighting that access to flexibility i-deals is influenced by interrelated multilevel factors. Although flexibility is important for autistic employees, we show that they seem to have less access to flexibility i-deals, hindering their inclusion in the labour market. We argue that collective flexibility could overcome this and might be useful to make the workplace more inclusive.