Supporting employees with disabilities and promoting inclusion

Tuesday, 3rd December 2024, marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Disability defined

Under the Equality Act 2010, an individual is disabled if:

• They have a physical or mental impairment, and
• The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to do normal daily activities.

What steps can you take as an employer to make your workplace more accessible for individuals with disabilities and best support them in the workplace?

Reasonable adjustments

You are obliged to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees within the workplace. Reasonable adjustments can include adjustments such as altering hours or place of work and modifying or acquiring equipment, such as voice recognition software. Employees must be adequately consulted on any suggested adjustments.  Employers may also consider obtaining an Occupational Health report to guide reasonable adjustments. Occupational Health reports can help offer practical solutions that perhaps you or your employee haven’t considered.

Positive action

You can choose to use positive action measures to help disadvantaged groups and improve diversity in the workforce. For example, you may hire one candidate over another equally qualified candidate because the former has a particular protected characteristic that is underrepresented in your workforce. This may also help widen your talent pool. You must, however, be able to prove that this action does not discriminate against others.

Mental health

Your employees’ mental health is just as important as their physical health. You may consider introducing mental health first aiders who support employees in the workplace, implementing a stress-at-work policy, providing resources such as an employee assistance program, or pointing employees to free resources such as Mind.

Communication

It’s important to encourage open communication with employees and create safe spaces. Creating an inclusive workplace ensures that employees feel valued and supported. Employees feeling respected and appreciated will increase productivity and retention rates.

Equality and diversity

You should ensure comprehensive equality & diversity policies and procedures are in place.  Ensure managers and your employees are regularly trained. Ensure that managers act on allegations of discrimination and follow the correct process and procedures.

For more information about this article or any other aspect of people solutions reimagined, download our App for Apple or Android, and contact your integrated HR, employment law and health & safety team at AfterAthena today.