A growing body of literature critically examines disabled people’s experiences of work, emphasizing the importance of the social relational aspects of embodiment, disability, and ableism within organizational contexts (Damianidou & Georgiadou, 2021; Jammers & Zanoni, 2020). Despite evidence of disabling organizational approaches to time (Seymour, 2002), disability’s relationship with employment and time remains under-researched in the disability studies literature, with relatively scarce accounts of the disabled employees’ experiences of time embodiment.

Time is inherent to the experience of work, the way it is organized and how meaningful is perceived to be, while ableism and disability seem to be a defining factor for the way time is experienced in this context (Seymour, 2002). In fact, evidence reveals that disabled employees frequently spend their time differently due to a prevalent ableist division in family and work life, with Bryson (2007) highlighting the significance of discussing the structuring of time and time consciousness when considering equality. Literature points out that the time squeeze imposed by organizational cultures centered around embedded masculine values and assumptions may result to lower autonomy among individuals, significantly impact their health and wellbeing (Jammaers & Williams, 2020), and hinder any attempts to promote and safeguard inclusion as a sense of belonging to the organization (Georgiadou & Antonacopoulou, 2021). 

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent ‘turbulent’ socio-economic environment have left a deep scar on the work experiences of employees around the globe. It has brought to the surface the need for new organizational and management approaches that are characterized by empathy, determination, flexibility, and a more humane face that understands and acknowledges the needs of employees (Georgiadou, Magrizos & Roumpi, 2021). The ways in which time is perceived, acknowledged, valued, used, and assessed are central to the effectiveness of inclusive organizational approaches and equality in private and public life. The notion of time introduces a problem that has plagued scholars over time. What is the nature of time? How does time relate to change or movement? What is the relation of time with each instantaneous 'now'? Is time objective and is it about the objective characteristics of the world or the change that is taking place in it? Or is time dependent on the subjective perception, so that if there was no meaningful subjectivity there would be no time? Most importantly, does time pass at the same pace for everybody? 

Even though non-disabled people may have the option to manipulate time and act like sprinters that compete to arrive first, in a race based on who is the fastest, some disabled people may struggle with time because of being different from the norm and thereby not fitting in. Thus, in order to feel and be independent, some disabled people actually depend on how well bodies, current technologies and prevalent institutions relate, not because they have decided how their environment should be arranged, but because other people have taken decisions for them and without them (Schillmeier, 2008). Hence, in order to be able to move spatially and be on time, some disabled people have to consider not only how they will move and how long it will take them, but also whether the social infrastructure allows them to arrive at their final destination at the same time as the ‘sprinters’.  

Since this research was based on the voice of disabled people, we decided to employ a qualitative methodology. Our aim was to gain in-depth insights from key informants in order to develop grounded theory. We interpreted our findings within the framework of the social model of disability, which postulates that disability is socially constructed. Thus, the restrictions that disabled people have to confront are not a consequence of disability but barriers constructed by the powerful society that values and promotes ‘normality’ on the one hand and condemns deviance on the other (Oliver, 1996). Hence disability is not a real situation that stems from inside the person but an externally imposed plasmatic category that serves the reproduction of existing power relationships and the survival of ‘the fastest’. Our main research tool was the semi-structured interview. Our questions focused on how disabled people understand and embody time and what are the time implications of being disabled. Each interview lasted between one to two hours and was based on the informed consent of the participants. A grounded theory method was employed; thus, the interviews were driven by the participants’ perceptions. We started by asking the participants to tell us their stories of disability. Then we used prompts and probes to steer the conversation through the following topics: the meaning of time, time constraints and barriers for disabled people, experiences related to time, feelings of being ‘late’, experiences of ‘timed-out’ and time-off, role of time in their social, personal and work life. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. In total, our sample comprised of eight Greek-Cypriot disabled people. The sample size is consistent with norms and suggestions for adequate sampling in management studies. Brinkmann and Kvale (2015) suggest that five to 25 people represent an adequate sample for qualitative studies. Even though we cannot postulate that we selected a representative sample that reflects the enormous range of disabled people’s experiences and perspectives, we tried to recruit a diverse group of participants with different backgrounds and socioeconomic status. To this end, we employed a combination of purposive and snowball sampling methods.

Career and performance management in organizations are believed to depend on speed of decision making and execution, as well as on capturing windows of opportunity by pursuing tasks and roles at the “right” time. In addition, scholars have devoted considerable attention in showing the importance of temporal fit or “entrainment” between socio-environmental and organizational rhythms (Shi & Prescott, 2012); a paradigm which fundamentally maintains disability inequalities at the organizational and social level. However, several calls to pay more attention to time, and its interplay with organizational constructs remain unanswered. The lack of explicit consideration of time hinders theory and practice to move forward by restraining the understanding of how constructs relate between each other in the processes and mechanisms by which decisions unfold (Aguinis & Bakker, 2021). For example, subjective conceptualizations of time are likely to have implications for decision-making processes, as individuals are likely to adapt their strategies to their time perceptions, but also embodiment. In conclusion, conflicting normativities may mediate between intention to move and potential to arrive on time and thereby have equal opportunities in employment and social life. According to Schillmeier (2008), if associations between disability, time and space are badly put together, disconnected or displaced, the temporalities and spatialities involved are disrupted and altered. As a result, people with impairments become disabled and dependent on nondisabled people’s willingness to include them by removing unfair time constraints. By using the clock not as time but as a means to offer time, it would be more likely to leave room for competition in a fair and non-timed race that values people because of their potential contribution in social life, regardless of order and perceived speed.

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