A sheltered workshop is an organization or environment that employs people with disabilities separately from others, usually with exemptions from certain labor standards, such as reduced minimum wage requirements. They offer vocational rehabilitation services.

Different groups hold different opinions about whether sheltered workshops should be available and what their purposes are.

A sheltered workshop is a program run like a business that generally employs people who are unable to obtain or keep employment on the competitive labor market due to disability. This typically includes people with intellectual disability. For the most part, workers come from special education school programs and are not expected to acquire the skills (e.g., working quickly) that are necessary to advance to employment on the competitive labor market. However, this is not universal; in transitional workshops, which are oriented for somewhat less disabled people, the goal is to prepare workers for competitive employment.

Activities usually involve low-skill, repetitive, routine, menial tasks, such as assembling things, preparing food, or cleaning. The workshops teach general work skills such as punctuality and dressing appropriately. Many programs also offer social and recreational activities.

The programs themselves usually fall into three general categories:

Sheltered workshops may be used in secure psychiatric facilities to teach residents skills (such as working in a group) that could be helpful for obtaining employment upon discharge.

Workshop employees usually produce less economic value than non-disabled workers and are either paid less than the ordinary minimum wage or are paid a minimum wage that is subsidized so that their pay exceeds the value of their output. Funding typically comes from a combination of government funding, philanthropy, and income from the sale of goods or services.

People who are too disabled for a sheltered workshop may participate in an adult day care, where the goal is improving basic life skills.