Going Beyond the Benchmark to Strengthen Disability-Inclusion and Employee Trust

Sunday 17th July 2022 marked Disability Awareness Day, which aimed to build awareness around accessibility and inclusion in social and working environments. This year’s theme, “smashing stigmas and ending discrimination”, aptly renewed the campaign to “break the bias” for International Women's Day.

Recent research commissioned by mobility experts at Middletons Mobility took a deep dive into the employment gap between disabled workers in the UK and their non-disabled peers. The study found one-fifth of the working-age population in the UK are classed as disabled and the number of people at work reporting a disability is increasing post-COVID.

There are many types of disabilities to consider for accessibility efforts – invisible, long-term, temporary, or situational disability.

While the UK government has published positive statistics showing a 53% increase in disabled people joining the workforce in the last 10 years, there is still a glaring disparity between disabled and non-disabled workers. For example, only 53% of disabled people aged between 16 and 64 years are currently in employment, versus 82% of non-disabled people of the same age group. Furthermore, a gap was seen in the employment rates between disabled and non-disabled men (31%) than for women (25%).

Middletons’ mobility experts suggested this disparity is driven by the higher employment rate in general for non-disabled men (85%) than for non-disabled women (78%), as the employment rates for disabled people of all genders were similar (54% for men and 53% for women) across the board.

Improving Your Company’s Disability-Inclusion Practices

Hiring people with disabilities need not cost more than hiring someone without a disability. Enabling diverse career paths across roles and regions will support human connectivity and purpose and improve employee inclusion, growth, and trust. In fact, a recent economic study conducted by Accenture and the American Association of People with Disabilities found a strong correlation between financial performance and well-developed disability-inclusion practices.

To support disability-inclusion companies can take the steps to:

• Invest in employee education and training to help all employees understand the barriers that disabled people face at work and contribute toward implementing solutions.
• Revise hiring policies to ensure all community groups are being engaged with.
• Create a mutually supportive community by ensuring all employees can access the basic tools and knowledge to do their jobs effectively.

Ricky Towler, Founder of Middletons said: “Making a workplace accessible for disabled employees is a huge show of support from a business, especially if additional equipment or devices can be available for these employees. Installing ramps for mobility scooters or wheelchairs, modifying furniture to allow for wider access, or providing a sensory-free environment for overstimulated workers are all ways businesses can support their staff who have additional needs.”

By making a meaningful pledge to celebrate employee inclusion-diversity will ensure accessibility is also integrated into your product and delivery lifecycle. Social values are shaping purchase decisions more than ever and the inclusive consumer is leading the pack, rewarding businesses that pursue inclusion and avoiding those that do not.

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