According to research involving 501 HR decision makers and conducted by Group Risk Development (GRiD) - the industry body for the group risk protection sector - forty-six percent of employers do not report on the number of disabled people they employ.
Although the Government has yet to make this reporting mandatory, it is committed to reducing the disability employment gap and neglecting to count numbers of disabled employees threatens to worsen the disability employment gap.
Under the 2010 Equality Act you are considered disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. Employers must make reasonable adjustments to support disabled job applicants and employees, making sure people with disabilities or long-term health conditions can overcome any substantial disadvantages they may have in applying for, or doing a job and progressing in work.
According to the survey, 68% of the respondents feel that transparency on disability reporting in the workplace would help to reduce the disability employment gap by leading to more inclusive practices. Currently of those businesses that do perform disability reporting regarding their workforce, around a third (33%) do so to inform diversity and inclusion (D&I) practices and initiatives. Just under a third (30%) said they use the data to track progress made on their initiatives, while 17% use it to inform recruitment practice and 16% do so to inform talent management practice.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said:
“if and when reporting is made mandatory, it is likely to be for larger corporates initially, “but all employers need to have an understanding of the number of people they employ with a disability or long-term health condition, as the perceived wisdom is that what gets reported gets done”.
“However, there is likely to always be under-reporting as not all disabilities are immediately obvious – employers may believe that they have a good grasp on how many people with a disability they employ but those with a ‘non-visible’ or ‘hidden’ disability, such as a mental health condition, diabetes, or autism, could be overlooked – and many employees don’t want to disclose their condition or don’t see themselves as having any particular need that shouldn’t be addressed by their employer wanting to ensure that everyone they employ is enabled to do the best that they can.”
She concluded by saying:
“With the right support, employers will have access to a much wider pool of talent than perhaps they previously had and may attract a new cohort of highly motivated candidates offering the skills and knowledge that they need to benefit their business.
“Providing this support will help companies become Disability Confident and also sends a clear message to other staff, namely that the employer takes the health and wellbeing of its workforce seriously - and this has great benefits to wider business objectives as the workforce will be more reflective of the population as a whole and enable greater insight.”
