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Assessment of Relationship between HR
Practices and Employee Empowerment Among
Differently-Abled Employees in Services Sector
in Coimbatore District
N. Jayagowri1 and J. Arthi2*
1Research Scholar, Department of Business Administration, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and
Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore – 641043, Tamil Nadu, India
2Professor and Head, Department of Business Administration, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science
and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore – 641043, Tamil Nadu, India
13
DOI:10.18311/sdmimd/2024/35135
Abstract
.
Keywords:
*Email: arthi_mba@avinuty.ac.in
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1. Introduction
India, with its vibrant cultures and economies, has
witnessed a paradigm shift in labour dynamics, where
the workforce is increasingly becoming more diverse.
Coimbatore District, the Industrial Hub of Tamil Nadu,
boasts a burgeoning services sector that encompasses a
wide range of industries, from IT to hospitality. Against
this backdrop, the present research endeavours to
unravel how HR practices inuence the empowerment
of dierently-abled employees in this specic regional
context. The systematic organizational support
enforced by the organizations in their HR practices
determines the career development, upskilling,
coaching and mentoring programs for the workforce.
Maheshwary (2012) highlights the importance of
enhancing accessibility for employees with disabilities
through training, technical advancements, and physical
accessibility. HR practices and employee empowerment
components are interconnected. Human Resource
practices have been identied as a primary enabler
of inclusion, yet research on disability-related HR
Management is scattered across disciplines HR plays
a vital role in creating an environment that nurtures
and supports the development of empowerment
competencies, which, in turn, contributes to a culture
of employee empowerment within the organization.
Empirically, eective execution of policies and
procedures predicts an organization’s development
(Schloemer-Jarvis et al., 2022).
Empowering dierently-abled employees requires
thoughtful and inclusive HR practices that recognize
and support their unique abilities and needs. Mira et al.
(2019) suggest that organizations should consider HR
practices as a channel to achieve their goals through
employee performance. Additionally, fostering
specic competencies among dierently-abled
employees can enhance their empowerment within the
workplace. Theories based on resources propose that
organizations must develop a competitive “dierently
abled workforce” which is diverse in nature. The
resource-based workforce theory focuses on the
strategic utilization of human resources as a source of
competitive advantage for organizations. This theory
is an extension of the broader Resource-Based View
of the rm, which suggests that a rm’s sustainable
competitive advantage lies in its unique and valuable
resources.
In this article, the HR practices considered are
Recruitment and Selection, Training and Development,
Performance appraisal, and Career Planning and
Development.
According to the “Impact Analysis of work
environment of Employees with Disability in the
Government Organizations of Ahmedabad and
Gandhinagar Districts” carried out by Gujarat National
Law University (2023), the study focused on the
comparison of employees with disabilities and other
employees, there was clear evidence of discrimination
against employees with disabilities, along with
reduced accessibility, dissatisfaction with workplace
treatment, compensation, and promotion policies. This
remains the case even after co-workers and employers
acknowledge that the productivity and performance
of workers with disabilities are on par with those of
their peers. A large portion of disabled employees
(7.8%) have rated the Grievance Redressal Mechanism
as “Below Average.” Accessibility problems and the
communication barrier could be some of the causes.
The study recommended that to address the problems
of employees with disabilities, more attention needs to
be paid to the Redressal norms.
Employee empowerment, a key driver of individual
and organizational growth, takes on heightened
signicance in the case of dierently-abled individuals.
Ivanova and Von Scheve (2020) express that employee
empowerment develops a positive attitude among
the employees towards the organization. Employee
empowerment is giving employees a certain degree
of autonomy and responsibility for decision-making
about their specic organizational tasks.
This research aims to scrutinize how HR practices,
ranging from recruitment and training to quality
workplace and organizational culture, impact the
empowerment of dierently-abled employees. By
exploring the HR factors, the research seeks to
contribute insights to identify eective human resource
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management strategies of organizations. Further recent
studies argue that the organizational environment is
not only based on judgment but aects the productivity
of the organization (Patterson et al., 2004) Promoting
deliberately positive environments to boost ongoing
actions and favourable HR policies will maximize
the human capital. This will also develop healthy
competition among all the employees in the organization
(Hodgetts et al., 1994). Nowadays, HR has become a
strategic enabler in managing people eectively and
working for the retention of employees in the long run,
including dierently-abled professionals.
In the dynamic landscape of the services sector in
Coimbatore District, the integration of dierently-abled
individuals into the workforce poses a multifaceted
challenge that warrants a thorough investigation.
Despite an increasing recognition of the importance
of inclusivity and diversity, a signicant gap exists
in understanding the relationship between Human
Resource (HR) practices and the empowerment of
dierently-abled employees. The HR practices stand
as the backbone of all other organizational functions.
1.1 HR Practices and Employee
Empowerment Competencies
Eective Leadership of an organization depends on the
HR practices adopted by the organization, especially
in the case of organizations engaging dierently-abled
employees. The HR practices under consideration in
the study are Recruitment and Selection, Training and
Development, Performance appraisal, and Career
Planning and Development.
The work zeal deals with peers, with supervisors,
senior managers and leaders. Employee empowerment
includes independence, criticism, and consequential
(Kaplan & Kaiser, 2003). The study by Yin et al.(2019)
explains that the research on the competency framework
strives to strike a balance between the components of
“HR practices” and “Employee Empowerment”. The
present study involves one framework in which the
factors comprising HR Practices (Figure 1) with that
of Employee Empowerment are applied. Utilizing the
relationships between these frameworks to derive an
associative construct between the given variables is
the aim of the research. The vertical section contains
“Organised systems” contending with “Resilient
systems”, while the horizontal section contains
“Internal focused” systems contending with “External
focused” systems. The HR practices model placed in
between “Recruitment and Selection and Training and
Development” promotes development and support
through work intentions and morale. The internal and
external model suggests consequential results and
is linked with “Career planning and development”
within the organization. The employee empowerment
model combines the external elements of Counseling,
Rewards, Grievance Redressal Mechanism and Attitude
measurement through work intentions and morale.
The perceptual opposite is the internal model which
combines resilient and internal attributes. The morale
Figure 1. HR practices and employee empowerment.
(HR pracces: Recruitment and Selecon, Training and Development, Performance appraisal, Career Planning and Development. Employee Empowerment:
Counseling, Rewards, Grievance Solving, Atude Measurement.)
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attention in scholarly work. This review synthesizes
existing literature to provide a comprehensive
understanding of the current state of knowledge on this
crucial relationship, with a specic focus on the
services sector, in India.
1. Recruitment and Selection: To ensure a diverse
workforce, research by Van den Berg et al. (2020)
highlights the signicance of inclusive recruitment
strategies.
Attracting talent with disabilities requires the use of
strategies like accessible application processes and
customized recruiting campaigns (Henry et al., 2014).
2. Training and Development: For employees
with disabilities, training programs specically
designed to meet their needs are essential to their
career development. Pandey and Deshpande (2023)
emphasize the value of tailored training programs
in building the abilities and self-assurance of peo-
ple with disabilities, which eventually leads to their
empowerment.
3. Performance Appraisal: According to research
by Dangol (2021), equitable and open perfor-
mance review processes have a favourable eect
on employees with disabilities’ sense of empower-
ment. Acknowledging individual contributions and
accommodating a range of skill sets in performance
measurements are essential factors to take into
account.
4. Workplace Accommodations: Pal (2011)
highlights the importance of workplace accommo-
dations in empowering employees with disabilities.
It becomes clear that having accessible workspaces,
assistive technology, and exible work schedules
is essential to creating an inclusive and empower-
ing work environment. (Suresh & Dyaram, 2021)
in their study specied from employer perspectives
on workplace disability inclusion toward under-
standing the nuances of organizational dynamics
and human perceptions. The organizational deter-
minants included are knowledge about the type of
disability; work characteristics; accommodations
based on the type of disability; accessibility of
physical infrastructure and external pressures.
5. Organizational Culture: The experiences of dif-
ferently abled employees are greatly inuenced by
of employees gets an impetus with empowerment and
takes ownership of their role which is much needed to
fulll the targets.
This reects that employee empowerment is a
collaborative eort of the Management with its HR
practices and that of the employees with internal and
external factors put together. Disabled employees
need a lot of resilience and organising capability
comparatively to achieve the targets set.
This model systemizes the documentation and provides
the baseline for the HR practices and Employee
empowerment programs. Ghoshal and Bartlett (1995)
derived a set of attributes executing a detailed case
study, which identies the four sets of attributes
for employee empowerment. Table 1 explains each
attribute explored during the study.
This study aims to explore the correlation between HR
practices and Employee Empowerment among the
dierently abled employees in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
To assess the relationships between the chosen criteria,
the “canonical correlation” tool is being used in this study.
2. Literature Review
The intersection of HR practices and the empowerment
of dierently-abled employees has gained considerable
Table 1. Employee empowerment- attributes
Attribute Definition
Counselling Flawless Performance
Feedback
Free to communicate
Commitment management
Rewards Shared incentives
Identify talents
Link between individuals
Grievances
Redressal
Equity indecision-making
Individual problem solving
Individual competence
Attitude
Measurement
Access to resources and coordination
Freedom to make decisions
Guidance and help
Management coaching and support
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their employer’s culture. According to the research
by Forbes Insight by Laura Hamill (2019), empow-
ering outcomes are favourably correlated with
establishing an inclusive culture where diversity is
acknowledged and employees feel like they belong.
6. Legal and Policy Perspectives: It is essential to
have a legal system that upholds the rights of work-
ers with disabilities. In this sense, India’s Rights
of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 is historic,
setting the groundwork for inclusive HR practices
(Duy & Kelly, 2020).
7. Regional Context - Coimbatore District:
Although generic studies oer signicant insights,
there is a dearth of research specically focused on
the Coimbatore District. A thorough understand-
ing of the relationship between HR practices and
employee empowerment necessitates taking into
account the regional quirks, cultural considerations,
and industrial dynamics specic to Coimbatore.
Few other empirical studies indicated how noteworthy
the dierently abled people policies are over time
successfully proved to become part of the regular HR
policies. Through similar studies, the organizations
started recognizing the importance of these existing
capabilities and explored methods of developing the
skills among dierently-abled employees. Kavyashree
et al. (2023) have studied that HRM practices in
organizations empower employees and make them
more engaged to perform better in their job roles. The
results of the study imply that HRM practices need to be
considered a priority in business organizations for long-
term success. Therefore, organizations devote a generous
segment of their budget to human resources to develop
capabilities among the dierently-abled employees
of that organization. Management skill sets enable
dierently-abled employees in the rm to do better than
its competitors and facilitate the development of healthy
competition. However, it is still skeptical that the eorts
of the management in developing this human resource
will turn favorable to the organizational environment
and whether or not it fullls the needs of the dierently
abled workforce of that organization.
Employee Empowerment: Empowering the
employees is all about creating a positive working
condition, including the act of extending meaningful
support from the managers, seniors and supervisors,
modifying easy job elements combined with scal
benets and enabling policies to sustain amicable
relationships with colleagues at the workplace. This
will enhance positive attitudes and behaviors, and
eventually lead to optimistic change in justifying
negative tendencies (Boudrias et al., 2009).
Traditional measures for employee empowerment
include Characteristics of the Job (Yin et al., 2019),
Resources and Demands of the job (Van De Voorde et
al., 2020) and psychosomatic empowerment (Hassard
et al., 2022). In addition to this apparent organizational
support and HR practices, other factors such as reward
systems, new learning practices, and development
opportunities are considered critical factors aecting
employee behaviors and attitudes. Also, the HR
practices boosting relationships and improving
collaboration within the organization and among peers
will play integral analyzers of employee behaviors. A
set of scales (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990) has been
developed to measure employee empowerment as a
secondary line construction to include situations in
HR practices and work zeal (i.e., linked with peers,
linked with supervisors, senior managers and leaders).
Dierently Abled Employees:
In the World Report on Disability, Krahn (2011) stated
that “If people with disabilities and their households
are to overcome exclusion, then they must have access
to work or livelihoods, breaking some of the circular
links between disability and poverty”. People with
disabilities are habitually unemployed or employed
with very fewer earnings, than “non-disabled
people” and employed in jobs with awful working
conditions with meager promotional prospects,
particularly if they are women. Many such disabled
people work in unprotected environments that oer
unceremonious scal benets. In this scenario, many
do not feel empowered and for the remaining, growing
opportunities are rejected that could enable them to
earn a decent living.
Dierently-abled employees, constituting a vital part
of the workforce, have gained increasing attention
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in recent research. The Rights of Persons with
Disabilities Act (2016) in India serves as a pivotal
legal framework for their rights and inclusion. Studies
indicate that despite legal advancements, attitudinal
biases and accessibility challenges persist, impacting
the professional experiences of dierently-abled
individuals (Mitra & Sambamoorthi, 2013). Workplace
accommodations, including accessible infrastructure
and assistive technologies, play a crucial role in
enhancing the work environment for dierently-abled
employees (Marinaci et al., 2023).
The dierences in terms of disabilities, gender,
and socio-economic factors create the need for
approaches to inclusion (Armstrong et al., 2011).
Recent work has highlighted the importance of
organizational culture in shaping the experiences
of dierently-abled employees, emphasizing the
role of inclusive practices and supportive leadership
(Suresh & Dyaram, 2021). However, a literature gap
remains in understanding the specic HR practices
that contribute to the empowerment and career
advancement of dierently-abled individuals in the
Indian context.
This brief review highlights the evolving landscape
of research on dierently-abled employees in India,
pointing to legal advancements, challenges, and the
growing recognition of the need for inclusive HR
practices. The ongoing research is essential to bridge
existing gaps and focus on targeted strategies for
fostering a more inclusive and empowering work
environment for dierently-abled individuals who are
a part of the Indian workforce.
Research Gap: In summary, the literature review
emphasizes the necessity of an all-encompassing
strategy for HR procedures that acknowledges
and meets the various demands of workers with
disabilities. Furthermore, although worldwide
perspectives hold signicance, a research gap exists
concerning the Coimbatore District, hence requiring
additional investigation of local dynamics to
customize HR methods for optimal inuence on the
empowerment of individuals with disabilities in the
services industry.
3. Methods
This study is striving to prove that two separate models
HR Practices and Employee empowerment model
are not “independent” and to explore the association
between each other. Further an eort is made to
determine the extent of the relationships that exist
between these two variable sets. The study also has
the responsibility to investigate the contributions of
“independent” and “dependent” variables when the
models show correlations with each other. To assess
the relationships between the criteria, a “canonical
correlation” analysis is done. By calculating the
relativity contribution of each variable individually
in the canonical regression, the least and the most
contribution of the individual variables can also be
determined also the relationship among the two models.
3.1 Hypotheses
• Null Hypothesis (H0): The HR Practices in the
services sector in Coimbatore District do not signi-
cantly impact the empowerment of dierently-abled
employees.
• Alternative Hypothesis (H1): Inclusive and sup-
portive HR Practices in the services sector in
Coimbatore District positively correlate with the
empowerment of dierently-abled employees.
3.2 Data Collection
The population for the study is the Dierently abled
employees of Coimbatore- 10,895 as per Census 2011.
The method of sampling is Judgmental sampling
as only dierently-abled employees working in the
mentioned sectors of Coimbatore district. The Sample
Size of 370 was determined using the (Krejcie &
Morgan, 1970) table for determining the Sample Size
for a nite population. Around 400 employees were
approached out of which 177 employees showed
willingness to participate in the study. The sample for
this survey consists of a dierently abled workforce
(n=177), working at dierent organizations and
Government departments of (non-corporate) technical
and non-technical nature from Coimbatore, Tamil
Nadu. These companies are in the Special Economic
Zone as well as other areas of Coimbatore city. The
sample consisted of 75 from Clerical jobs, 46 from
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mid-level managers, 24 from the transport department
and 32 from the administrative department. The
context of HR practices and Employee Empowerment
questionnaire designed by the scholar was administered
in this survey to measure those eects. The electronic
version of the questionnaire designed in Google Forms
was disseminated through e-mail and duly completed
responses received (n=177) were included in the study.
The factor analysis of the two separate variables yielded
8 factors for the HR practices values framework and
4 factors for the Employee Empowerment values
framework. Correlations of the central constructs
were represented in the factor loadings analysis.
Canonical correlation analysis will determine the
correlation between independent variables and
dependent variables, both multiple statuses. For the
central constructs, assessments of correlation will be
conducted in the aforementioned manner.
3.3 Data Analysis
Multivariate statistical analysis (Carroll & Green,
1997) “Canonical correlation analysis” facilitates
the linear interrelationships between two sets of
variables in this study. Among the two dierent sets
of variables, the rst set is referred to independent
variable HR Practices and the second set is considered
as the dependent variable- employee empowerment;
a canonical correlation variance is constructed for
both variable sets. Always a “canonical variance” is
constructed from multiple dependent variables; on the
contrary, the multiple regressions are habituated to a
single dependent variable only.
A canonical function that maximizes a correlation
coecient is developed from the Canonical correlation
function between these two canonical variables. The
main job of the correlation coecient is to measure
the potency of the relationship that exists between
the given canonical variances. Further, the “canonical
correlation” is interpreted from a canonical loadings
point of view, in terms of individual variables and their
respective attributes. While the canonical loadings are
compared to be similar to factor loadings analysis, each
variable from this portion of the analysis is equivalent
to approximate factors for individual sets of variables.
This maximizes the correlation between the two sets
of factors.
Canonical correlation analysis comprises of unique
component which helps in developing “multiple
canonical functions”. Therefore the canonical function
constructed in each factor is independent of the
factors of the other set of canonical functions. This
supports deriving the canonical function at dissimilar
relationships existing among the sets of dependent
and independent variables. It is understood that the
“canonical loadings” of each variable are always
unique in each “canonical function” and will represent
that individual variable’s contribution to the specied
association that is subject to analysis.
4. Results and Discussion
The description of the variables includes eight (8)
“independent variables” and four (4) “dependent
variables”. To ensure that the analysis best suits this
research on dierently abled employees, selection
has been considered as a separate variable and three
supporting variables to HR Practices have been included
namely- infrastructure development, delegation of
authority and retention. Canonical correlation variable
designation is the least important when compared to the
simple correlation analysis. The number of variables
present in the study is very small; there are only four
variables to determine the classication number.
Depending on the concept in both variable sets, it is
well established and therefore there is no need to
suggest dierent variable combinations. The variables
resulted in a 12:1 ratio to observe and that exceeds
the recommendation of the basic requirement of 10
points per variable. The routine hypothesis appears
to be standard, even though a few typical departures
from normality appear to head o from the oblique. In
canonical correlations, the requirement for normality
is not very important as observed in the regular
“correlation analysis”.
The canonical correlation analysis, with all assumptions
met, has derived four canonical functions in this study.
This looks consistent when compared with that of the
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functions of the total, which appear to be equal to the
smallest number of variables, irrespective of whether
they are dependent or independent.
Table 2 indicates the statistically signicant four
canonical correlation functions tabulated from
the analysis. These results are derived from the
signicance tests of the functions, individually and
multiple variance tests. These functions are subject
to revealing simultaneous results in the statistics of
Pillai’s criterion test, Wilk’s Lambda, Roy’s Largest
Root and Hotelling’s Trace, presented in Table 3. All
these tests in four “canonical functions” were found
statistically signicant in the assumed model.
Now that it is derived, the second stage is to decipher
the practical signicance. Always, the practical
consequences are examined with the size of the
“canonical correlations “that decide on a particular
“canonical function “to infer. The ndings of
Alpert and Peterson (1972) in which generally the
canonical correlation squares give an estimate of the
shared variances between the canonical functions,
are referred to. While this may be a very convenient
measure of “shared variance,” sometimes it might lead
to misinterpreting the variance since the canonical
correlation squares always represent the value of the
variances yielded from the sets of dependent variables,
which are composite and linear; they do not exactly
represent the same extracted from the sets of variables.
The idleness indexes consent to the analysis and remove
the intrinsic prejudice and uncertainty instituted to the
canonical roots, which is a measure of the standard
belief of shared variances.
The methodology to extract the “redundancy index” for
the “rst canonical variance” is shown in Table 4. The
square value of the average loading of the canonical
r-square (for the “rst canonical variance”) gives the
“redundancy index”. The same formula is being used
for all four canonical functions in the study.
An explanation of the majority of the overall model
t is given in the rst canonical correlation function.
The index in redundancy suggests that more than half
(values in redundancy 0.215 and 0.325) of the result are
caused by the shared variances between the dependent
and independent variable sets. Table 5 tabulates the
canonical loadings of all four functions, comprising the
dependent and independent variables.
From Tables 4 and 5, it is proved that one canonical
variance can be both virtually and statistically
signicant. On the other hand, “canonical function”
and “redundancy index “resemble good enough;
this proves that the objective of this research is
aligned with the result analysis. As mentioned, the
objective of this analysis is to determine the level of
independence among the two sets of variables and
thus, to determine the contribution level towards
Table 2. Fit-measures: Overall model
“Canonical”
Function
“Canonical”
Correlation
“Canonical
Square”
F Stat Sig
1.731 .535 4.3537 .000
2.448 .201 1.8283 .000
3.378 .143 1.4937 .003
4.268 .071 0.8916 .010
Table 3. Significance test multiple variance
Statics Value F Stat Sig
Pillai’s Trace .2945 5.36537 .007
Wilk’s Lambda .9547 4.73363 .003
Roy’s Root 1.6591 6.01397 .001
Hotelling’s Trace .5358 1.71243 .001
Table 4. Canonical loadings - for canonical functions
Function
1
Function
2
Function
3
Function
4
Variables - Dependent
Counselling .402 -.143 -.843 .322
Rewards .185 -.886 -.139 -.398
Grievances Redressal .738 -.293 .208 .567
Attitude Measurement .919 .061 -.372 -.103
Variables –Independent
Recruitment .817 -.211 -.205 -.112
Selection .713 -.446 -.193 -.008
Infrastructure Development .702 -.473 -.365 -.151
Training .705 -.397 -.399 -.065
Delegation of Authority .861 -.332 -.292 -.086
Performance Appraisal .916 -.321 -.131 .084
Retention .754 -.085 -.255 .074
Career Planning .831 -.304 -.043 -.172
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each set of variables. Hence, the next step would be
to proceed towards determining the contribution of
canonical variance to the individual variables and
vice versa.
Among the “Employee Empowerment” variable sets
that are dependent, the most important contribution is
“Counseling”. Interestingly, “Attitude Measurement”
has a huge inverse eect on the canonical variance.
Among the HR practices variables that are independent,
“Delegation of Authority” and “Performance
Appraisal” contribute the maximum to “canonical
variance”. Also “Selection” displays a huge contrary
eect on the identical variable. The derived “canonical
weights” are unstable because of the statistical concept
where several independent variables in the model are
correlated and therefore the canonical loadings are
more appropriate evaluators.
Table 5. Canonical function - redundancy calculations
Variables Canonical
loadings
Canonical
loading
(squared)
Avg.
loading
(squared)
R-Square
canonical
Index
redundancy
Variables – Dependent
Counselling .402 .161 .125 .117 .052
Rewards .185 .034 .085 .125 .057
Grievances
Redressal
.738 .545 .092 .142 .056
Attitude
Measurement
.919 .845 .095 .152 .050
Average 1.588 .397 .536 .215
Variables - Independent
Recruitment .817 .668 .072 .073 .053
Selection .713 .509 .096 .085 .052
Infrastructure
Development
.702 .493 .072 .062 .041
Training .705 .497 .067 .067 .039
Delegation of
Authority
.861 .742 .075 .065 .037
Performance
Appraisal
Appraisal
.916 .840 .083 .073 .032
Retention .754 .569 .086 .056 .035
Career
Planning
.831 .691 .076 .055 .036
Average 5.017 .627 .536 .325
Table 6. Canonical weights - for all canonical functions
Variables Function 1 Function 2 Function 3 Function 4
Counselling .327 -.217 1.037 .695
Rewards .000 -.914 .022 -.465
Grievances Redressal -.358 -.406 -.573 .870
Attitude Measurement -.941 .607 .001 -.910
Variables – Independent
Recruitment .317 1.025 -.357 -1.670
Selection -1.128 -2.971 .674 1.143
Infrastructure
Development
- .395 -.770 -.977 -.775
Training -. 033 .918 -.826 .662
Delegation of Authority .387 -.484 -1.217 -1.491
Performance Appraisal
Appraisal
.991 -.225 1.273 2.717
Retention .164 1.652 -1.083 1.152
Career Planning .575 .664 .2 132 -1.741
The dependent variables behave entirely dierently
in this analysis (Table 5). The pattern is like this,
two variables have very high loadings (Attitude
Measurement .919, and Grievances Redressal .738),
one variable at moderate loading (Counseling .402),
and one variable at a low
load
(Rewards .185). The
result of this study has proved that HR practices and
Employee Empowerment variables have contributed
highly towards the best “canonical variance”.
To determine the extent of contribution, the “canonical
weights” are represented by analyzing the contribution
to variance. “Canonical variances” for all the
“canonical weights” are tabulated in Table 6; however,
the only important variance for this analysis is the “rst
canonical variance”.
The analysis proceeds towards assessing the “rst
canonical variance” to accomplish importance in terms
of relativity within individual variables. Considering
that only the “rst canonical variance” is important
and ignoring the other “canonical loadings “since
they are considered equal to the “linear correlation”.
The “canonical loadings “are like “factor loadings” in
assessing the relativity contribution in the individual
variable set that is present in the “canonical function”.
It is proven that “the larger the coecient”; the more
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“important the variable set” is. In this study, all the
variable sets have contributed highly to the “canonical
functions”, implying all eight factors loading from
.817 to .831 (Table 5). This recommends a high
degree of inter-correlations present between all the
eight variables and that all contribute towards highly
ecient HR practices in place.
Finally, the redundancy index that is calculated (Table
3) shows the general contribution to “individual
variables”. The results very well supported the
variables and fairly forecasted the functioning of a
group. In addition, the private contributions which are
listed as the “key predictors “appear to be the entire
set for HR practices, and for Employee Empowerment
“Grievances Redressal” and “Attitude Measurement”
are the key predictors. Therefore the Null hypothesis
is rejected and the alternate hypothesis is accepted
stating that an inclusive and supportive HR Practices
in the services sector in Coimbatore District positively
correlates with the empowerment of dierently-abled
employees.
Based on the citations reviewed, which emphasize
the importance of HR practices and their impact on
the empowerment of dierently abled employees,
the analysis of the present study also highlights the
correlation existing between all the HR Practices and
Employee Empowerment. More specically, it is similar
to the review “Impact analysis of work environment
of dierently abled employees in Ahmedabad and
Gandhinagar districts (Marisport et al., 2021) which
revealed that 7.8% of the dierently abled employees
rated “below average” for the Grievance Redressal
system adopted and that satisfaction levels of the
employees in terms of treatment at the workplace is
low, the present analysis has reected that Grievance
Redressal and Attitude Measurement are key predictors
of employee empowerment in correlation to the HR
Practices followed by the organizations which again is
a crucial factor to be considered.
Hence, it is more evident that the Grievance Redressal
measures and other factors like accessibility,
infrastructure, treatment etc., contribute to the welfare of
the dierently abled employees and should be addressed
in such a way that the employees feel more empowered.
Therefore, the study comes up with suggestions that
enhance the HR Practices of the organizations to serve
the dierently abled employees in a better manner and
traverse through the path of sustainable development in
terms of the performance of the employees and collective
development of the organization.
5. Suggestions
The following suggestions are made having in
mind the key predictors which reect upon high
correlative values between HR Practices and employee
empowerment, viz, Grievance Redressal and Attitude
Measurement with other factors namely access to
resources and coordination, freedom to make decisions,
guidance and help.
Creating Accessibility through JAWS or NVDA:
It was understood from the respondents that it is
dicult to access the organization’s ERP for visually
challenged employees. Hence, it is suggested that the
organization’s ERP should facilitate the use of Job
Access with Speech (JAWS) Non-Visual Desktop
Access (NVDA) or other compatible software to
empower the performance of the visually challenged
employees.
Exclusive Cell for PwD: According to the analysis,
Grievance Redressal and Attitude measurement are
key predictors of empowerment. Hence, the companies
need to institute a separate cell for the PwD to address
their grievances and other issues. It is suggested that
the active functioning of such a cell would help in
resolving the top grievances and accessibility issues
for such employees.
AI-Enabled Mental Wellness Application: Providing
an AI-enabled mental wellness or counseling
application like a Chabot or Mobile App within the
intranet of the organization will increase the emotional
stability of the dierently abled employees and help
them perform better in their jobs. When the employees
can express their issues with utmost condentiality and
privacy, it gives them better avenues to overcome their
psychological concerns.
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Career Advancement Opportunities: HR practices
should support the career growth and advancement of
dierently-abled employees. Providing opportunities
for skill development and promotion based on merit
helps foster a sense of empowerment and belonging.
Skill-Specic Training: Empowerment Workshops for
persons with disability can be organized and enhance
the awareness of the “rights to employ PwD”, and
encourage hiring in respective organizations so that
their special needs are met at the workplace.
Employee Resource Groups: Establishing employee
resource groups or anity networks for dierently-
abled employees can create a supportive community
within the organization, allowing for shared experiences
and peer support.
Inclusive Policies and Benets: HR policies and
benets should be designed with inclusivity in mind.
For example, oering exible work arrangements can
help dierently-abled employees balance their work
and personal lives more eectively.
HR Audit: The HR department can plan for an audit
with specic components to measure the eective
systems created to elevate the performance of disabled
employees. It is a real concern when it comes to
preparing for the challenges of the Industry 4.0
environment. Such an Audit would vividly present the
focus areas of concentration and identify the gaps in
compliance.
Accommodations and Accessibility: HR should
work closely with employees to identify and
implement reasonable accommodations that enable
them to perform their job duties eectively. This may
include providing assistive technologies, modifying
workspaces, or adjusting work schedules.
Empowerment Strategies: HR practices can plan
a social marketing campaign, to subsequently
balance the employee’s eco-sphere through creating
a web portal, providing a knowledge repository
and compendium of best practices that persons
with disability are capable of. This study also sheds
light on the fact that employment opportunity itself
is considered as the grassroots empowerment for
dierently-abled persons.
6. Conclusion
The study included objectives to determine whether
the two sets of variables representing HR Practices
and Employee empowerment are independent or
related to each other, in the context of a dierently
abled workforce through deriving sets of canonical
loadings and canonical weights for the “dependent
and independent” variables. The analysis revealed
that there exists statistically signicant relationships
among the variables and various suggestions have been
indicated to bring in more betterment in the services
sector of the specied district i.e., Coimbatore, Tamil
Nadu. The dierently abled employees are signicant
categories who deserve inclusiveness not only in
policies but also in practices. The study implies that the
organizations must implement various empowerment
programs for the dierently abled employees which
can go a long way in strengthening their contribution
to the organization’s success. However, the Grievance
Redressal and other measures contributing to the
welfare of these employees should be given more
importance and focus as there is a prevalence of studies
that show the dissatisfaction of disabled employees
in terms of t h e Grievance Redressal Mechanism
adopted by organizations and in terms of accessibility,
infrastructure and treatment given to such employees.
The various impactful HR Practices suggested may be
implemented to create a barrier-free environment for
those employees.
It is suggested that future research can be done in several
dierent industries and with a diversity of workforce.
Future research may also focus on AI-enabled practices
to promote empowerment and inclusiveness as HR
analytics will play a major role in powering charge
of HR decisions. Further, following are a few specic
areas of possible extension.
In-depth analysis of empowered HR practices: Carrying
out a thorough investigation to pinpoint particular
HR practice that shows a higher association with
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employee empowerment by comparing the outcome
of the controlled group and experience group of
samples. Examining components including mentorship
programs, training courses, and performance
counseling to see which practices have the biggest
eect on empowerment. A mediation of psychological
capital or work-family conict on empowerment can
sprout new knowledge towards fullling UN SDGs
data support for Agenda 2030 on decent work and
economic growth.
Longitudinal studies: Undertaking longitudinal studies
to track the sustained impact of HR practices on the
empowerment of dierently-abled employees over an
extended period. This will oer insights into the long-term
eectiveness of interventions and provide a comprehensive
understanding of the evolving relationship.
Comparative analysis across industries: Extending
the research to encompass various sectors within the
services industry. Attempting to compare and contrast
the impact of HR practices on dierently-abled
employees in sectors such as IT, hospitality, healthcare,
and nance. Understanding industry-specic nuances
can inform tailored strategies.
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