Other participants said that the statutory employment target helped them to disclose their disability because the Part 5 staff forms that they had to fill out were anonymised. A very small number of respondents in the employer’s survey felt that having an employment target helped create an inclusive work environment. In the employee’s survey, 39.7% of employees with a disability and 30.1% of employees without a disability stated that having an employment target increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities. A number of public bodies stated that having a statutory employment target helped them to focus on increasing recruitment opportunities for people with disabilities. A small minority of respondents (10.5%) to the employer survey stated that having a 3% employment target was an effective means of recruiting people with disabilities. 39.7% of employees with a disability and 30.1% of those without disabilities cited the minimum 3% employment target as a great incentive for employers to recruit people with disabilities. Case Study 1: Developing an Inclusive Work Environment The Senior Management team and the HR Department in one public body developed and implemented policies and processes for employing people with disabilities. The organisation had clear policies on providing employees with reasonable accommodations and policies for retaining employees with disabilities. All employees received disability awareness training. The organisation had a Disability Liaison Officer. As part of its communication strategies, the organisation produced articles on the benefits to employees of disclosing their disability, and the reasonable accommodations and supports they would receive to help them do their job to the best of their ability.
Findings from the Research A review of the Part 5 reports (2006-2016) shows some examples of public bodies having the following induction processes in place: Confidential questionnaires for employees which ask them about their disability and if they require reasonable accommodations to help them perform their job to the best of their ability Disability training for all new employees, along with information about the Disability Liaison Officer, including the Officer’s contact details. A number of the interviewees and focus group participants said that their organisations had a pre-induction process and that the Disability Liaison Officer has an important role in this process. The Disability Liaison Officer meets with an employee with a disability before they start working at the organisation to identify the reasonable accommodations needed. They bring the employee into the workplace to review their office and discuss the type of work they will be doing. The Disability Liaison Officer then meets with the employee every 6 months to review how they are progressing in their job. A few focus group participants commented that in their organisations, induction programmes are an opportunity to provide employees with a briefing on their organisations’ policies, for example, Disability Policies, Equality Policies, and Dignity in the Workplace Policies. New employees are also provided with Disability Guides. A Disability Liaison Officer in one of the focus groups said that they were responsible for encouraging employees to make contact with them through email. They were also responsible for making managers aware of the Disability Liaison Officer’s role in supporting employees with disabilities. However, other participants noted that the role and responsibilities of Disability Liaison Officers can vary. In their organisations employees with a disability may be more likely to go to the Occupational Health and Support Services to discuss reasonable accommodations. Across the different strands of research, there was little evidence regarding mentoring or buddying schemes, or line managers supporting new employees to assume leadership roles. In the online survey, 9.8% of employees with a disability reported that they disclosed their disability during their organisations’ induction process because of the supports they received from the Disability Liaison Officers and Human Resource staff. Reasonable Accommodations The literature recommends that public bodies provide employees with disabilities with reasonable accommodations to help them perform their work to the best of their ability. Please see Chapter 3 for further details.