Businesses are being encouraged to improve workplace practices for disabled people, and to support them to get and stay in work.
The #WorkWithMe pledge has been unveiled by Virgin Media and disability equality charity Scope to help accelerate social change around the employment of disabled individuals.
A recent YouGov survey of more than 500 senior HR decision makers, revealed that businesses are creating a disability employment crisis because of outdated attitudes and a failure to engage with the issue.
Around half of organisations believe it is easier to recruit a non-disabled person over a disabled person, while 56 per cent argue – wrongly according to Scope – that the main reason disabled people don’t get jobs is because they lack the right skills or qualifications.
The current disability employment gap – the rate at which disabled people are employed compared with non-disabled people – hasn’t changed for more than a decade, with disabled people’s employment at around 30 percentage points behind their abled-bodied counterparts.
The #WorkWithMe initiative wants employers to pledge to tackle the UK’s disability employment crisis.
“There are pockets of good practice in large, medium and small companies all over this country, that we need to champion. But too many fall short,” said Mark Hodgkinson, Chief Executive at disability equality charity Scope.
“There is a huge amount of disabled talent and potential waiting for companies to tap into. It’s absolutely scandalous that a quarter of HR decision-makers claim that they have never had a disabled candidate for a job interview, and leadership boards often don’t even discuss disability.
“Both government and businesses have an urgent need to address the disability employment crisis. The pledge gives companies the tools they need to start making everyday equality in the workplace a reality for disabled people.”
To date, 19 companies have signed up to the initiative including electronics firm Philips and construction equipment company JCB.
The pledge is free and consists of a five-step plan for businesses to take accountability and receive advice on how to improve workplace policies, practices and culture.
The key elements of the pledge include: a senior leader taking accountability for disability inclusion; a review of how a company supports disabled people; helping line managers become confident about how to support disabled people; how to record progress on disability inclusion; and sharing best practice and learnings with other businesses.
“It feels like time has stood still for disabled people in the UK. It’s as difficult for them to find employment today as it was a decade ago, with businesses continuing to struggle with knowing how to support them,” said Jeff Dodds, Managing Director at Virgin Media.
“But, enough is enough. Companies big and small now need to come together to help put an end to this disability employment crisis.
“I’ve seen first-hand the benefits of working with disabled people and I want other businesses to see them too. So, my ask is for companies now to come together and sign the #WorkWithMe pledge and commit to transforming how they recruit disabled people.”
