what every hr professional needs to know about reasonable adjustments

AbilityNet Accessibility Services www.abilitynet.org.uk/webinars

What every HR professional needs to know

about disability and reasonable adjustments

AbilityNet Webinar

14 October 2014

With Kate Headley, Clear Company


Welcome

Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet

Kate Headley, Clear Company

Mark Walker, AbilityNet

2


Disability, technology and

reasonable adjustments

Understanding disability – Robin

What is a reasonable adjustment? Kate

Challenges for employers – Kate

Introducing Clear Talents – Robin

Common reasonable adjustments - Robin

3


Workplace Assessment Service

Powered by Clear Talents

Free IT Support for

Disabled People

My Computer My Way

Accessibility Services

AbilityNet

Adapting Technology. Changing Lives.


• At the Clear Company, we

believe every person has the

ability to make a great

contribution to society. But as

a society, we often put up

barriers that stop us making

the most of our diverse talent.

• Our goal is to create a society

where everyone gets the same

opportunities: where

organisations don’t just see

diversity as a box to tick, but

as something to embrace,

nurture and benefit from.

5

About the Clear Company

To achieve our goals, we provide employers with a range of online services, tools and resource solutions to enable best practice in recruitment and employment.


Understanding disability

The definition of ‘disability’ under the Equality Act 2010

In the Act, a person has a disability if:

• they have a physical or mental impairment

• the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect

on their ability to perform normal day-to-day activities

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Impairment

• Motor

• Vision

• Hearing

• Cognitive

Equality Act

Pre-empt, plan and prepare for

• Mental Health

• Learning disabilities

• Hearing impairment

• Visual impairment

• Mobility impairment

• Facial Disfigurement

7

Understanding disability


Disability in the UK

• 20% of employees will have a disability of some kind

• 10 million people in the UK have a hearing impairment

• 6 million people in the UK are dyslexic

• 11 million people in the UK have some form of disability

• More that 50% of disabled people acquire their disability while of

working age

• Just 8% of disabled people use a wheelchair

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The Business Case for Workforce Diversity

• Improve productivity

• Reduce staff turnover

• Encourage wellbeing

• Reduce legal risk

• Delivering diversity and inclusion

More information about disabled people at work at

www.hse.gov.uk/disability/facts.htm

9


£22,183

The average Employment Tribunal Award for Disability Discrimination

in 2011-12

£390,871

The highest Employment Tribunal Award for Disability Discrimination in

2011-12

10

The cost of getting it wrong

Source: Employment Tribunals and EAT Statistics 2011-12, Ministry or Justice, www.gov.uk Figures take no account of settlements made before reaching tribunal, or internal costs of handling disputes.

http://www.gov.uk


£8,000

CIPD estimate of the average cost of recruiting and training a new

employee

£300

Average cost of reasonable adjustments recommended by AbilityNet

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The cost of getting it wrong


What is a reasonable adjustment?

A reasonable adjustment involves making a change to the way that

recruiters usually do things to ensure that disabled people are not

unlawfully discriminated against.

This includes:

• Departing from usual practice in the way things are done

• Providing specialist equipment or additional support

• Removing physical barriers

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Challenges for employers

Getting people to disclose

Creating an environment of trust

Knowing what adjustments to make

Disability confident

• HR staff, line managers, colleagues

13


Introducing Clear Talents

• Clear Talents - allows easy declaration and understanding of the

needs of all individuals either applying for work or at work

• Clear Talents tools provide employers with appropriate guidance for

every stakeholder, at the point and time of need

• Complete end to end management of provision of reasonable

adjustments and work place assessments

• Enhance candidate experience and and employee engagement

• Educates all stakeholders just through regular usage

• Reduces sickness absence

• Vastly improves the performance and productivity of individuals that

need adjustments

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Common Reasonable Adjustments

Dan Biddle Age: 39

“My name's Dan. ClearTalents helped me to discuss my

impairment and request a suitable parking space so I

could get to the interview in my wheelchair and be

confident the venue was accessible.”

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Katrina Ostrowski Age: 39

“I have slight hearing loss and have been getting

headaches as a result of having to concentrate on

what people are saying to me, especially in a noisy

environment.

“Clear Talents includes an online hearing test which

identified a hearing problem. It also recommended a

visit from an AbilityNet Assessor. It was good to

speak to an expert about simple changes we could

make to my workplace, like a headset for being on

the phone and a quieter environment to work in.”

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Sheila Age: 48

Clear Talents helped Sheila.

Sheila cares for her young disabled child, which had

caused some difficulties in terms of her availability.

Having used Clear Talents to start the discussion

about her situation with her employer she is now able

to commit to working hours that suit everyone.

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Questions


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Next AbilityNet webinars

How Barclays Made the Business Case for Accessibility

1pm BST 21 October, 2014

Dyslexia in the Workplace, 1pm BST, Tuesday 4 November

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