Attitudes in the workplace
What you will learn in this chapter
- Barriers disabled people face with attitudes in the workplace
- Actions you can take to address those barriers
42% of disabled people have experienced negative attitudes in the workplace from managers.
90% of disabled people who experienced negative attitudes and discrimination said it led to them falling out of work.
48% of disabled people who left work told Scope they experienced problems with a reasonable adjustment. The most common problems were:
- delays in reasonable adjustments
- lack of understanding of the importance of adjustments to fulfil their role
- refusal of adjustments
The research also found that employers thought that the potential barriers to hiring a disabled person were the:
- costs associated with arranging a reasonable adjustment (65%)
- inconvenience of arranging reasonable adjustments (54%)
These attitudes impact disabled people’s ability to stay and thrive in work.
Recommended actions
Set up an employee working group
An employee resource or working group in the workplace can help to raise:
- disability awareness
- accessibility barriers
- inclusion issues
They are also a collective voice, instead of relying on individuals. They can help to inform on any policy or procedure changes and can be a neutral way to support colleagues.
Encourage sharing health information
Use internal communication campaigns to encourage colleagues to share health information. Let colleagues know:
- why you are collecting the data
- how you’ll use it to inform more inclusive practices in future
Campaigns will build confidence in the organisation and provide more accurate employee data.
Sign up to inclusive programmes
Disability inclusion programmes can help guide your organisation to become more inclusive. They can offer support across your organisation by providing:
- consultation and reviews
- resources and guidance
- training and lived experiences
Scope has services that can support you to continue your inclusion journey:
Sign up to the Governments Disability Confident scheme
Disability Confident supports employers with recruiting and retaining disabled people. The scheme provides guidelines for each of the 3 levels of the accreditation. Being able to display the accreditation helps show you are an inclusive organisation.
Design an inclusive adjustments process
Always involve the employee when creating adjustments
The employee may have previous knowledge and experience of what’s worked for them in the past. Or they may suggest equipment and software that you may not be aware of.
Have an adjustments specialist or co-ordinator
Not everyone is comfortable speaking directly to their line manager about adjustments. Have a named person in the organisation that can be contacted about adjustments.
It is good practice to provide a neutral way to ask for adjustments. This can be a person in HR or part of a dedicated adjustments team.