Improving disability performance:
a case study on the
Employers’ Forum on Disability
London, United Kingdom
Megan Galeucia
IHSP Policy Fellowship 2012
My last day at the Employers’ Forum on Disability,
July 2011.
1. Methodology
Questions:
• How does the the EFD’s focus on disability as it affects
business improve equal employment opportunities for
people with disabilities?
• How does the EFD help employers to improve their
performance on disability?
Data Collection:
• 45 semi-structured interviews with: board members, senior
executives, EFD staff, EFD member representatives, Disabled
Associates, and external stakeholders
• Participant and direct observation
• Reviews of publications, reports, and evaluations
EFD: a snapshot
• The EFD is a non-profit organization that works with its
members to make it easier to hire and conduct business
with disabled individuals
• Its membership base consists of nearly 400 employers from
the private and public sectors and across all industries
• Its members employ about 20% of the UK workforce
• Founded in the late 1980s by Susan Scott-Parker, its current
Chief Executive
• The Forum considers itself—and is recognized widely—as an
authoritative voice on disability as it affects business and
service providers
Disability & employment in the UK
• Of the 10 million people with disabilities in the UK, 5.1
million are working age
• The employment rate of people with disabilities remains
48.8% compared with 77.5% of non-disabled people
• Disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty than
non-disabled people
• The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) & the Equality
Act (2010) make it unlawful for employers to discriminate
& requires them to make reasonable adjustments
2. Strategies: Working with employers
“The entire premise of this organization is mutual benefit. Disabled
people must benefit and the business community must benefit.”
- Susan Scott-Parker, CEO
The EFD:
•Is an organizational hybrid - funded by employers, but also
challenges them to improve
•Indirectly impacts disabled people’s employment opportunities
and workplace experiences
•Seeks to engage employers, and not to judge, chastise, or
alienate them
•Works to understand members’ businesses
•Limits its scope to the intersection of disability and business
3. Strategies: Making the business case
• Employers must be persuaded that disability is a business
issue in order to make real changes
• The Forum’s business case for disability-equity details a variety
of legal, commercial, ethical, and professional rationales
• The stats: 1 in every 8 UK employees has a disability & 1 in 3
people are disabled or close to someone who is
• Not hiring disabled people means missing out on a pool of
tremendous talent and skills
• Inaccessible businesses alienate a sizeable demographic of
potential disabled customers with £80 billion spending power
• Provides legal projection and enhances a business’
reputation
4. Strategies: Tailoring guidance
“Do you know what I really like about Employer’s Forum? It’s the fact that
they tailor things…We’ve just put together a disability awareness training
package that went to the Employer’s Forum, they made some corrections
and now I’m confident that that’s gone online, that it’s up to date, that it’s
not offensive, that it meets the criteria and everything else.”
- Marcia Wolfe, NHS Blood & Transplant
• Relationship & account managers understand the members’
particular sectors/industries and constantly adapt services to
members’ feedback
EMPLOYER:
adversary
valued
stakeholder
potential
partner
5. Strategies: Measuring performance
Disability Standard - the world’s first disability
benchmark, endorsed by business & disabled
communities alike
2009: 106 employers participated
Scored in the following categories:
•
•
IT systems
•
Customer services &
e-commerce
Accessibility of goods &
services
•
Outsourcing and procurement
•
Health and safety
•
•
Working environment
Corporate responsibility &
brand reputation
•
Employment and
recruitment
6. Strategies: Working with stakeholders
The EFD
• Aspires to make macro-level impact by
contributing to social change through
influencing key stakeholders: government,
business, and international bodies
• Brings the voice of business to the negotiating table by
representing members’ experiences and perspectives
• Works with Disabled Associates – disabled thought leaders &
entrepreneurs who contribute their personal experience & insights
• Created the Presidents Group – chief & senior executives from
Gold member organizations
7. Key findings
•
Employers are improving their performance – the total
average score increased from 57% in 2007 to 63% in 2009
•
High-ranking organizations are: creating disability action
plans, showing senior-level commitment to improving
performance, meeting the needs of disabled customers/clients,
and providing disability equality training for all employees
•
Member organizations that have repeatedly used the standard
have made clear progress and scored significantly higher
than average across all areas than members who participated
for the first-time
•
This provides supporting evidence of the EFD’s positive
impact on employers
“The reason we would have joined [the EFD] would have been the
reason why we still know this is important. We want to do better
business and we do better business by understanding the needs of all
of our customers rather than excluding the needs of a bunch of them,
and that’s really always been our business case. And we want the best
talent regardless of whether that person has a disability or not, and
you can be sure that you’re getting the best person for the job and not
the most convenient, like the ones that you’ve already got.”
- Helen Chipchase, British Telecoms (BT)
“Every year I'm asked to justify our expenditure with them, but every
year we make a substantial payment to be a member...and I suppose I
found very much in the last 12 months, it's been very easy to justify our
involvement with them. So that kind of says it all.”
- Matthew Thomas, Ernst & Young
8. Challenges & Limitations
Internal:
External:
•
Monitoring statistics of
disabled staff
•
Expanding role and thought
leadership
•
The Disability Standard – not •
the full picture
The move from ‘disability’ to
‘diversity’
•
Financial sustainability –
success and limitations
•
Influencing intermediary
organizations
•
Breadth of mission –
expanding beyond the UK
business community
•
Maximizing impact &
attracting additional
members
•
Future dynamic leadership
9. Recent & forthcoming endeavors
• Business Taskforce on Accessible
Technology (BTAT)
• Procurement
• New Disability Standard
• Paralympics - London, Summer 2012
• Getting employers to see disability as
“business as usual”
• Extending its global presence
10. Conclusions
•
With over 20 years of experience, the EFD has developed a
sustainable & distinctive approach to disability
employment equity by involving employers in the equation
and leveraging their power and influence to create better work
experiences for disabled people and affect social change
•
Members have improved their disability performance and
believe that they are receiving a valuable return on their
membership investment
•
Member engagement & strong leadership are 2 key factors
that are also integral to the Forum’s success
•
The EFD continues to identify and develop thoughtful &
innovative approaches to future challenges