A recent survey by the Business Disability Forum has found that the vast majority of disabled employees (78%) had to initiate the process of getting their employer to make the adjustments that they needed to do their jobs. In some instances, they even had to fund the changes themselves.
Just 10% of disabled employees said it was easy to get the adjustments made, while over half (58%) said that their employer only made them because they were assertive and confident enough to ask for them. In terms of the speed of their employer’s response, one in eight said they waited over a year to get the adjustments they needed.
However, even when the employer made the necessary adjustments, just under a fifth of disabled employees reported that they did not go on to consider and address the barriers that might exist elsewhere in the organisation; while over a fifth said that they had never been reviewed.
Two fifths of disabled employees said that they felt patronised or “put down” by other people at work because of their disability or condition; while 38% said they had been bullied or harassed.
On a more positive note, the research showed that managers now feel more confident talking about disability and making adjustments to an individual’s role than was found in earlier research carried out in 2019. However, they also feel that they are held back by internal processes and lack the authority to make adjustments to the wider organisation.
In general, managers want more help to support disabled employees. For instance, only a quarter felt that occupational health helped them understand how to manage and support their employees.
As a result of these findings, Business Disability Forum is calling on employers to:
- Simplify their workplace adjustment processes;
- Provide more support for managers and the role they play in workplace inclusion, and;
- Develop a wider workplace approach to understanding the experience of having a disability and to removing disability-related barriers.
Common adjustments could include flexibility over hours and location, time off for medical appointments, as well as ergonomic equipment and assistive technology.
To read the report in full, click here.