Increasingly employers are
recognising the advantages of recruiting a diverse workforce
including people with disabilities. Many employers openly promote
their commitment.
How do I identify employers committed to
good practice?
Employers who use the JobCentre
Plus "two ticks" symbol in their job advertisements and
corporate literature are publicly announcing their commitment to
attracting disabled applicants
There are five parts to this
commitment:
- A guaranteed job
interview: to interview all disabled
applicants who meet the minimum criteria for job vacancies and to
consider these applicants on their abilities.
-
Consulting disabled employees:
to ensure that their skills and abilities are being best used
within their work.
-
Keeping employees on if they become
disabled:
to make every effort to retain employees who may become
disabled.
- Improving
knowledge: to ensure that key personnel within the
organisation develop and maintain their knowledge and awareness of
issues around disability needed to ensure these commitments
work.
- Checking
progress and planning ahead: to monitor and
annually review these commitments and achievements, identify
improvements and inform employees of progress and future
plans.
What else I can I do to
check an employer's commitment to recruiting disabled
applicants?
Check if they are members of the
Employer's Forum
on Disability (EFD). The EFD has hundreds of corporate
members. Its purpose is to improve the job prospects of
disabled people by making it easier for employers to recruit,
retain and develop disabled employees. Membership of the EFD
indicates a company's positive attitude towards disabled
people.
What if my preferred
employer doesn't appear to subscribe to the above
initiatives?
You can glean further information
from brochures, advertisements and annual reports. These will
inform you about an organisation's culture as well as its
initiatives in areas such as career breaks, paternity leave and job
sharing. These can tell you a lot about its attitude to
diversity and equal opportunities which clearly includes more than
just disability. If a company seems flexible in all these
ways, then it's reasonable to assume that disability won't be an
issue either. Check out their equal opportunities policy
statement; it should cover disability.