The success of the UK’s Paralympians last summer did much to change attitudes and challenge misconceptions around disabled people.

“It was the first time I had heard people talking on a daily basis about the achievements of disabled people and the amazing things they had done – and not just about their disabilities,” says Beth Carruthers, director of employment services at Remploy. “That has prevailed across society as a whole and employers are certainly alive to that.”

Businesses are now more willing to consider people with disabilities, says Mark Brooks, head of communications at Shaw Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that helps find disabled people employment. “The shift has been from ‘can’t’ to wanting to, but needing help,” he says. “For employers, the key thing is to get the best staff and, if they need extra support, they’re able to get that.”

Often employers require help in identifying issues that may unwittingly be deterring those with disabilities from applying for positions in the first place. Ms Carruthers cites the use of telephone interviews or online applications as potential barriers for some disabled people, as well as software that can filter out applicants, without the involvement of a human being, on grounds of not having particular skills or experiences.

“The reality is that, if you’ve become disabled while in work, it’s likely that you’re looking for a different job from the one you have experience in,” she points out. “You might have transferable skills, but does that really come out in an automated CV search? It’s unlikely. Employers need some hints and tips; what they don’t need is a stick.”

Ian Cox, managing director of Performance Telecom, attended a course on homeworking to identify new ways of encouraging a more diverse workforce into call centres, an industry that has traditionally suffered from high levels of staff turnover.

He now operates Contactability, an organisation that aims to place people with disabilities into the industry, either in the centres themselves, working from home or in a “hub environment”, a resource organisations can draw on to meet periods of peak demand. The service is scheduled to launch in September.

“We decided right from the start that it would be a collection of partners who would be able to offer the various paths to employment,” he says. “More people are using different channels to communicate, so whereas someone who is deaf wouldn’t be able to take phone calls, there’s a natural fit with being able to respond to emails or SMS [text] messages.”

Mr Cox concedes that those with learning disabilities often struggle to find work, but the hub concept, where call centres are operated by third parties with greater experience, could enable employers to draw on their skills without having to commit to any extra training or management time.

Some employers do still have concerns around taking on those with disabilities, admits Ms Carruthers, including perceptions that they tend to take more time off sick – anecdotal evidence suggests the reality is the exact opposite – and worries over what measures they will have to take to accommodate people in the office or workplace.

“With a disabled employee, you have to recognise whether there is something about the disability that is getting in the way and, if there is, you have to overcome it,” she says. “The key is not to recruit disabled people for the sake of recruiting them, but to recruit disabled people who can do the job.”

Schemes, such as Marks & Spencer’s Marks & Start, and Sainsbury’s You Can, that take on people with disabilities to help them gain valuable experience, which can lead to permanent opportunities, can help overcome this, she says. Both parties are able to see whether they are a good match and those affected by disabilities can offer suggestions to improve the scheme.

With an ageing population and people tending to work for longer, employers are also increasingly likely to need to make simple adjustments for disabled employees within their existing workforce.

“Most of what I talk about is non-visible disabilities, people who are not stereotypically disabled with the wheelchair or the white stick,” says Bela Gor, legal director at Business Disability Forum. “Most don’t call themselves disabled. They think of themselves as having developed a health condition, which they’re managing, and they need assistance from their employer to manage in some cases.”

Tom Walker, head of employment at law firm Manches, says employers should not fear either hiring disabled people or being compelled to make costly alterations. “The law on disability discrimination recognises that sometimes a disabled person needs more favourable treatment in order to reach the famous ‘level playing field’,” he says. “But if the employer carefully considers what can be done, they will be fulfilling their duty. The employer need not carry out measures to the detriment of other employees or that cannot be justified economically.” 

Nearly eight million people of working age in the UK have a disability, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, figures from the Office for Disability Issues show that fewer than half of disabled people are in employment.

The under-representation of people with disabilities in the workplace means many employers are missing out on talent, says Robin Schneider, co-founder of diversity consultancy Schneider Ross, whose clients include Vodafone and National Grid.

“The business case for embracing diversity is straightforward,” he says. “It means you have access to talent that others may overlook and you retain talent you might otherwise lose. It’s essentially about skills, so if you have a bunch of people who have those skills that other employers aren’t recruiting, then you want to recruit them.”

It doesn’t make sense to ignore a substantial proportion of the working-age population in this current economic climate where employers are complaining of skills shortages, argues Dianah Worman, public policy adviser on diversity for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

“We’re experiencing a skills crisis in the UK and if we disengage a large section of our population, then we continue to damage our competitive advantage,” she says. Certainly the statistics bear this out: UK employers are more concerned about the lack of skilled employees in the labour pool than any of their Western European counterparts, according to a survey of 1,300 chief executives worldwide by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Employers are failing to exploit this pool of under-used talent, says Ms Worman. “You need to look at talent in all its forms. If you go for the same kind of person that you’ve always had, then you’re not exploiting talent. It doesn’t matter what packaging talent comes in. Employers should be more adventurous,” she says.

Another impetus for change is the demographic time bomb of an ageing UK workforce facing employers. This means they will have to take a progressive stance on disability, says Mustafa Özbilgin, professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at Brunel University. “As we age, we often gain disabilities and people will be working longer due to poor pension provision, so organisations need to prepare themselves for this,” he says. “If organisations don’t future-proof themselves, then this will affect them in the long term.”

In fact, making provision now for disabled people can also help organisations get the best out of their existing workforce, adds Mr Schneider. “The majority of people with disabilities in the workplace will not be people that employers recruit, but employees who develop a disability during their working life,” he says. “Employees who develop impairments would feel confident enough to be open with their manager about it and that is three-quarters of the way to ensuring that it doesn’t become a problem.”

But there is another bonus for employers recruiting and developing disabled employees in the workplace, argues Mr Schneider. “There is an assumption that people with disabilities will have greater absence levels and lower performance levels, but the opposite is true as they take less time off sick and are better performers,” he says. Indeed, research backs up this view with DIY chain B&Q finding that employing disabled staff resulted in better retention and productivity rates, according to a 2010 United Nations report.

Employers also experience a beneficial impact on their non-disabled employees from having taken a positive approach to disability in the workplace. “Creating an environment where disability is accepted as just another way in which, as individuals, we differ from each other plays out positively with employees,” he says. “They feel proud that their employer is playing its part in society, helping to improve attitudes towards disability.”

However, it’s not just a case of ensuring you recruit the widest possible selection of talent from the UK population. Employing people who reflect your customer base helps inform your products and services to that particular community, and improves your profitability, says Ms Worman. “You need to ensure you offer a good customer experience, and that means a diverse approach so you can deliver products and services that add value to your business,” she says.

This is the case for Habinteg, a national provider of affordable homes and support services, where one in three of its properties is designed specifically for wheelchair users and 17 per cent of its workforce is disabled, explains Paul Gamble, the housing association’s chief executive. “Two of our twelve board members are disabled people so they are just as likely to be our bosses as our customers and the board members’ experience frames our strategic direction,” he says.

“Our disabled board members, along with the rest of the board, hold the organisation to account for delivery of our strategy which has the inclusion and experience of disabled people at its heart,” he adds. “There is a wider, valuable impact in having disabled people represented at board level in that it grounds the organisation’s leadership in the messy reality of the day-to-day experience of disabled people.”

There could even be a backlash against organisations that fail to take account of their disabled customers, warns Phil Friend, chairman of Disability Rights UK. “Disabled customers will take their business elsewhere if employers get it wrong,” he says.

Employers who are known for their progressive approach to diversity and inclusion are also more likely to attract the next generation to their organisation, says Ms Worman. “The younger generation have much stronger expectations around equality compared to older people and this could impact on recruitment if you’re seen as a dinosaur organisation not delivering on diversity,” she warns.

A PwC survey of more than 4,000 university graduates in 2011, otherwise known as “millennials”, reveals that this generation are looking for strong diversity policies from employers. However, the millennials felt that, while employers talked about diversity, this didn’t mean that opportunities were equal for all.

The benefits of employing disabled employees can also be tremendously powerful in terms of how the employer brand is perceived by the general public, says Mr Schneider. “There is no doubt that disability connects with the public at large,” he says. “If you look at the Paralympics, it changed the patronising attitude of the public towards what people with disability can do. Disability does have a strong emotional connection and the general public recognise that disability could happen to them, and usually have friends and family who have some form of impairment.”

He believes that employers, who show what they can do to help disabled people contribute effectively in society, are on to a triple win. “It’s about showing you care and want to do something for the community, but also sending a positive message about being a progressive company and reaching out and engaging people with fantastic skills to bring them into the workforce,” he says.

As the economy starts to heat up and the battle for talent emerges once again, these are compelling reasons to look to employ as diverse a workforce as possible.

CASE STUDY 

BANKING ON DIVERSITY 

Employing people with disabilities is central to how Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) does business, says Graeme Whippy, senior manager of the bank’s disability programme. “It’s really about building deep, lasting relationships with our customers,” he says. “We need our workforce to reflect the make-up of the communities where we do business.”

Mr Whippy is responsible for overseeing the bank’s approach to its workplace adjustments programme, which more than 12,000 disabled employees have completed in the last three years. “If a colleague says they have a disability, then we want to know what we can do to create a level playing field to minimise the impact of the disability,” he says.

The programme covers both physical adjustments, such as IT equipment, and non-physical adjustments, such as flexible working patterns. Since the programme has been implemented, 80 per cent of managers have reported improvement in productivity for disabled colleagues who participated in it.

Another important aspect of supporting disabled employees is through the bank’s personal development and career development programmes. The personal development programme is a three-day residential course aimed at junior employees with disabilities, says Fiona Cannon, LBG’s group director, diversity and inclusion. “It’s often the first time people have thought about their disability and how that relates to the world they live in,” she says.

The career development programme is aimed at fast-tracking talented employees with disabilities. “This focuses on their career in LBG, and identifies where the gaps are in their CVs and where they want to go next,” says Ms Cannon.

In a survey of participants of both programmes, conducted earlier this year, 86 per cent reported their confidence had improved, 68 per cent said they were more engaged with the organisation, 63 per cent said their performance had improved and 15 per cent had been promoted since attending. To date, 400 disabled employees have attended one of the programmes.

A large part of supporting disabled employees is about educating line managers who manage people with disabilities. LBG has delivered mandatory e-learning on managing disability to managers across the group. So far, 22,000 line managers have completed the course. 

John Tipping is profoundly dyslexic and can read on average one word in ten. “Some days I read better than others, but on bad days I can’t read at all,” he explains. Since investing in screen-reading and transcription software eight or nine years ago, however, the way he runs his window film and sign installation company has changed dramatically.

“Before I had access to the technology, my wife had to write all my emails, quotes and invoices,” he says. “Now I use a program called Dragon NaturallySpeaking which writes all of this up for me. I’ve also got reading software that highlights what I’m reading. I press ‘play’ and it reads everything. I remember feeling really emotional when I sent my first email. It was so liberating.”

Because he’s out on-site a lot, he now also uses apps on his iPhone to send and read emails from customers, enabling him to get back to them much quicker, which in turn has helped his business to become more profitable. “Before I worked for myself, companies didn’t want to invest in me because they thought that, because I couldn’t read or write, I couldn’t do the job,” he recalls. “But it’s just about having the right tools – it’s like me telling someone to dig a hole for a sign, but not giving them a shovel.”

As Mr Tipping’s story demonstrates, investments in assistive technology (AT) can reap huge benefits in terms of productivity and engagement. While the range of products available can cover anything from screen-reading software to special purpose computers with head-tracking devices, many employees with disabilities may only require small adjustments to existing systems. A change can be as simple as being able to alter the colour contrast on a Word document or a web screen for someone who has dyslexia.

Yet there can be reluctance among IT departments to make these changes because they fear they will disrupt their existing networks or compromise their security. “In many organisations, IT departments tend to lock down systems so users can’t change them or introduce their own corporate branding or fonts,” explains Paul Day, chief of staff at Business Disability Forum. “So much information now on corporate websites is via video, but few have subtitles for those with hearing impairments or audio description for those with visual impairments.”

Thinking about who might be accessing a document or a website, or controlling a keyboard or piece of machinery, rather than assuming it will be someone with “eyes, hearing and arms”, can make a major difference to a disabled person’s ability to do their work, not to mention their confidence, he adds.

What’s more, with an ageing workforce, employers will increasingly need to invest in technology to help their employees be productive. Problems, such as hearing and sight impairment, as well as musculo-skeletal problems, will become more commonplace.

“There will be an increasing number of people who need adjustments, who have the classic problems associated with old age,” says Dr Nasser Siabi, chief executive of Microlink, which works with organisations to come up with disability access solutions. “A wise employer will start putting provisions in place now to stop problems getting worse, rather than trying to fix the problem later. Preventative measures are far cheaper.”

Often, the benefits of an investment in AT stretch beyond employees with disabilities. Dragon NaturallySpeaking, for example, is one of the most widely used pieces of software among lawyers, as it enables them to speed up the rate their words are transcribed; the simpler user interfaces and touchscreen technology on tablet computers make certain tasks easier for everyone, not just those with cognitive issues.

“In my dream world, there would be no such thing as AT, because it’s a label,” says Mark McCusker, chairman of the British Assistive Technology Association. “I think people should think about it as an extra tool that helps improve productivity and helps the workforce enjoy what they do.”

Centralising the budget for AT, as they have at Lloyds Banking Group, can take the burden off individual line managers having to authorise purchases from their own departmental budgets and also increase buying power. After all, the legal obligation is with the employer, not the individual manager.

There is also funding available from the government, through the Access to Work scheme, although only a small percentage of the funding that has been given out to date has been allocated to technology spending. According to Mr McCusker, this accounts for only around £5 million of more than £100 million awarded so far, often because employers are either unaware of the support avenues available or because they choose to avoid the paperwork and just buy the technology they need.

AT investments can also help to save employers money in the long term. Devices, such as the UbiDuo, a portable touchscreen device which helps hard-of-hearing and hearing people to communicate with each other face-to-face, can save thousands of pounds that might have previously been spent on British sign language interpreters, while remote-captioning services enable deaf staff to participate in meetings as every aspect of the conversation is written down.

In terms of managing the technology, increasingly sophisticated software management systems can help IT departments control all their AT centrally and push out specialist programs or updates to those who need them.

The growing trend towards employees bringing in their own devices to work has positive implications for those with disabilities too, according to Peter Johansson, chief executive of C Technologies, which produces portable pen-scanners that transmit handwritten text from paper to digital media.

“Mobile devices linked to work desktops, as well as peripheral assistive technology devices such as handheld scanners or recording devices, mean there are fewer barriers for people with disabilities to overcome,” he says. “Doing so also becomes much easier when people can incorporate the devices used in their personal life into their work.”

Looking beyond the limited scope of the desktop computer also means disabled staff can work remotely – helpful if someone has an impairment that makes commuting difficult, for example, or needs to work in a solitary environment to aid their concentration. “Removing location boundaries is really important,” says Jeff Willis, business solutions director at Toshiba. “All these things are issues employers should be looking at anyway now; it just happens that helping people with disabilities is a positive by-product.”

Here lies the ultimate selling point of AT – that adapting existing systems or investing in specialist technology for those with disabilities can improve productivity across the organisation as a whole, which can only be good for business.

As Mr Day at Business Disability Forum concludes: “We’re all ‘situationally impaired’ from time to time. So if you install a ramp at work, it doesn’t just help the person in the wheelchair, it helps the guy who broke his leg in a skiing accident who’s in plaster for two months and the woman with the pushchair. Many adjustments don’t just help those with impairments; they help everyone.”