Disability workforce reporting

Disability workforce reporting simply refers to the process of gathering data and insights about disability and disabled employees in an organisation, which is then used to improve policies, practices and organisational culture. The overall aim is to help make workplaces more inclusive for disabled employees and those with long-term health conditions.

Collecting data on disability and the experiences of employees with disabilities and health conditions can inform organisational practice and policies, and help drive progress and change.

We would like to encourage more employers to build inclusive cultures around disability and feel confident not only in collecting the data, but also in using that data to develop action plans that create positive change, whether using an existing framework or other suggested methods.

This guide is for anyone involved in developing and managing disability workforce data for organisations. It is ideally suited to organisations who are considering or reviewing workforce reporting. While any organisation of any size can use this guide, there will be nuances that different- sized organisations will experience, and you will therefore need to re-scale some of what we suggest to best suit your resources and workforce size. 

Although employers outside of the UK may find some of the principles in the guide helpful to consider, this guide has been created with a UK audience in mind. This is because we have located the guidance and principles in the context of current UK employment policy and within the UK Equality Act 2010, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s employment and data monitoring advice.  Employers in other geographic regions should check legal requirements and procedures in their regions and ensure their actions are aligned to that.

This guidance has been produced to support organisations who want to undertake disability workforce reporting. It is a principles-based approach to allow you to apply what is meaningful to your own unique context.

The UK Government’s framework is designed to support larger organisations that employ over 250 people. This guidance can be used by organisations of any size – however, organisations will have different resources and systems to support the activities required to undertake disability workforce reporting, and our tips and recommendations reflect that. If your organisation is small, you may want to undertake just a few of the recommendations or suggestions but aspire to some of the other activities in the longer term.

This guidance highlights five key steps that will support your planning, engagement, data gathering, reporting and action planning.

Disability workforce reporting can include a range of different work-related experiences but, at the very least, it includes understanding the number of employees who have a disability who are working for your organisation.

Once your organisation has captured accurate data, you can consider expanding your reporting to cover the following areas:

• the type of disabilities or conditions employees have
• the number of disabled employees by type and level of role – to understand where in your organisation disabled people are employed
• promotion and re-appointments – to show the movement and progression of disabled employees in your organisation
• disability pay gap – the average difference in pay between employees who have a disability and employees who do not
• disabled employee engagement gap – the employee engagement levels of disabled employees compared with non-disabled employees
• workplace adjustments – to find out if everyone who needs adjustments currently has them.

Depending on your organisation’s resources or systems, it may not be possible to report on every one of these suggested areas. These can, however, form part of future action plans.

There are many ways to define disability: some focus on medical issues, whereas others consider social or environmental aspects too. There is no single, agreed definition of disability.  

Another, more progressive, view of disability, known as the social model, considers that people are disabled by barriers in society, including people’s attitudes, rather than any particular impairment or condition.

Disability can be changeable. Some employees will develop health conditions or disabilities during their working lives. Conditions can fluctuate and progress over time; there are also some conditions that are automatically considered to be disabilities under the Equality Act, regardless of the impact or severity. These factors can all influence whether people perceive themselves to be disabled, the support that they might need at work, or what they might want to share with their employer.

Long-term health conditions are defined by the UK NHS as “a health condition that cannot

at present be cured but can be controlled by medication and/or other treatment/therapies”. Long-term health conditions require management over many years and can lead to permanent or temporary impairment or disability. See the CIPD guide on managing and supporting employees with long-term health conditions.

For the purposes of disability workforce reporting, we recommend asking employees whether they consider themselves to have a disability or long-term health condition, which can include physical or mental health. You may choose to vary this – if you do, we recommend discussing this with your employees during step one.

Here is a short guide to other terms used in disability workforce reporting:

Narrative: explains the data and context behind your report.

Action plan: the steps that you commit to undertake as part of your report.

Disability data: the information you hold or collect on disabled people in your organisation that will be used in your report.

The sharing of disability and health information: the extent to which employees share whether they consider themselves to have a disability or long-term health condition.

Voluntary Reporting Framework: the government’s recommended approach and guide to disability workforce reporting.

Long-term health condition: any physical or mental health condition that may or may not meet the legal or commonly used definition of ‘disability’.

Workplace adjustments: changes that an organisation makes to remove or reduce a disadvantage related to disability, or support provided to employees with a disability or long-term condition, to assist them in the workplace.

You can also find detailed explanation of the terms ‘equality’, ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ on the CIPD website.

In this section you will find a framework for disability workforce reporting. You should consider each of these steps in accordance with your systems and resources.

Before beginning the process of disability workforce reporting, it is important to set out your overall intentions as well as some key aims and objectives. This can help to provide focus and clarity, and align activities and actions with goals. Deciding what you want to achieve is also important for embedding a data reporting lifecycle into your organisation. For example:

• Why are you proposing to undertake disability workforce reporting?
• What outcomes and benefits do you hope to realise? For example, do you aim to increase recruitment and progression opportunities for people with a disability or health condition? Do you need to improve representation at a senior level in the organisation? Is it to support a broader goal of creating an inclusive workforce, improve organisational reputation, or attract talent and improve retention?

Your overall aims and objectives can also help to inform your methodology and action plan, as well as forming part of your overall communication and engagement plan.

The timing of asking questions about whether employees have a disability can be helpful or cause suspicion among employees. The latter can happen when disability-related questions are asked during periods when your organisation is downsizing and making redundancies or restructuring, for example. Equally, if the narrative around why you are asking for this information at this time is around looking at what to prioritise in the next strategic review of, for example, a disability action plan, it can make employees feel that they want their ‘voice’ included and want to be involved.

A clear plan, and ongoing engagement with employees, will help to guide your process and activity. In this step you may want to consider some of the following:

• developing a business case for disability workforce reporting – this will be especially important if leaders are unsure of the benefits or costs
• engaging with your employees who have lived experiences of disability and/or a long-term health conditions
• establishing a group of disability champions who are interested in getting involved with the workforce reporting action plan initiatives
• engaging with your recognised trade union(s) to seek their input and support, if you have one
• communicating with employees on the purpose of disability workforce reporting
• determining what areas you intend to report on and why, including limitations and barriers to data collection
• seeking feedback on your plans for disability workforce reporting
• producing a series of ‘frequently asked questions’ that will be used to communicate important facts about your approach to disability workforce reporting
• engaging with people managers about the process – they could be key in encouraging engagement and can help to share important information with their teams.

Recommendations

• If you have a disability, neurodiversity, wellbeing or mental health employee network group, consider sharing your initial plans with them for feedback. Alternatively, consider setting up such a group or seeking volunteers who have relevant experience of disability/long-term health conditions, or holding a small focus group.
• Not everyone who has a disability or a long-term health condition will identify in that way and/or be part of a disability network. Invitations to engage and review should be to any employee, not just a disability network.
• Explain to all employees the benefits and importance of sharing disability information; for example, set out how the information provided will be used to make practical improvements and support a culture of inclusion.
• Ensure that all people managers are aware of the plans for disability workforce reporting, including the benefits and timescales. They will then be able to help you to promote any data collection activity directly to their teams.
• Appoint a leader or board member as a sponsor for disability inclusion, ensuring awareness of disability workforce reporting plans at a senior level in the organisation.

Tip: If you have an HR system where employees can provide and update their personal information, consider how you can encourage them to use this system to share if they have a disability or long-term health condition. Ensure that they are aware of how this information is stored and who has access to it. If you don’t have an HR system, consider if there any other confidential and anonymous ways to ask for and record this information.

The data you collect might be quantitative (numerical or statistical information) or qualitative (descriptive information, such as replies to open-ended questions). It’s good to gather a range of information from different sources so that you have the most insight and understand the context for the quantitative data.

There are many ways to gather your data: the one that is right for you will depend on the size of your organisation, your resources and the technology available to support you. Some data may already exist within your organisation in different formats so will need to be identified and collated. Other information, such as the specific opinions of your disabled employees, may need to be sought.

Methods for gathering data include:

• anonymous employee surveys to employees with a disability about their experiences of working with your organisation (see Appendix 2 for some suggested questions)
• employee engagement surveys (where demographic information allows the responses of employees with a disability to be identified)
• HR systems (such as existing information that employees have already shared on disability and health) – remember, not all employees will have easy access to a computer, depending on the nature of the work that they do – think about how you can make it easy for them to provide you with this information, such as a paper form or mobile app
• focus groups of employees with a disability or feedback from disability employee groups, where they exist
• HR data on recruitment, promotion, pay and progression
• representation of disabled employees across the organisation by grade, role or seniority
• information on the provision of reasonable adjustments.

You may not be able to report on all of these areas straight away – if this is the case, identify those areas that you can meaningfully review now, and others that can be considered in the future.

Tip: In any employee survey, consider using a mix of questions, including some that can provide open-ended, detailed answers or feedback. This will provide a rich source of data about employees’ feelings and perceptions.  

Recommendations

• Make sure that any data collected will be held securely and in accordance with any data protection legislation. In your communications, let your employees know how you will be ensuring the confidentiality of their data. More information and general guidance about data protection from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK can be found in A guide to the data protection principles.
• Identify potential gaps in your data. What information is not available to you? Consider how this will influence your results and how these gaps can be addressed for the future. This may be reflected in your action plan.
• Offer employees more than one way to provide feedback. Consider if any adjustments are required to your data collection methods to ensure that they are fully accessible and inclusive.
• If you are undertaking a dedicated survey, make sure that this is available to all employees, whether they have told you about a disability or long-term health condition or not.
• Thank people for taking part and tell them how completing the questions will make a difference. You want to make them feel as though they are part of informing the next phase of inclusion in your organisation. 

The first time you undertake disability workforce reporting, your data will create a baseline from which you can assess future progress. Analysis of your data should provide you with insights that can help you to make improvements or meaningful changes for employees with disabilities or long-term health conditions.

Your data can also help you to understand the bigger picture:

• What trends or patterns can you see?
• What key insights can you gain?

Aim to present a clear and compelling analysis of your data and the story that it tells. Consider what your data is telling you overall, and what insight this provides about the problems that you need to solve.

When reviewing your data, you may find it helpful to consider some of the following:

• How engaged or satisfied are your employees with a disability or health condition? How does this compare with other employees?
• What is happening at the stages of your employment lifecycle? Are there any specific findings or comments about key stages?
• What are the overall experiences of working for your organisation for employees with a disability? Are there variations across different departments or teams?
• What barriers are being experienced by your employees with a disability or health condition? These may be practical, everyday challenges, or barriers to promotion and progression.
• To what extent are employees with a disability represented throughout your organisation?
• How effective are the supports or adjustments that you offer, and how promptly are they provided?
• In future years, how is data evolving from one reporting period to the next and what are the key changes you can identify?

Answering these questions should help you to assess where you are today – and where you want to get to in the future. The gap between the two will guide your action plan.

Including an accompanying narrative with your metrics can aid understanding, helping readers to appreciate any broader context and bringing your data to life. Try and include easy-to-engage-with summaries and useful explanations.

When compiling your action plan, it is important to make it meaningful, taking steps to address any issues and challenges identified by your data-gathering activity. The content of the action plan will be determined by your findings from the data-gathering phase.

There are many different activities and initiatives that you might want to consider for your action plan, taking into account your resources and organisation context and what you already have in place. Here are just a few suggestions:

• Increase the rate at which employees are comfortable to share disability and health information – including how to build trust to support this.
• Develop networks or support groups for disabled employees.
• Provide training and/or guidance on disability-related issues to people managers – for example, how to make effective reasonable adjustments and navigate conversations about disability and health conditions with employees.
• Increase the voice of disabled employees within your organisation.
• Increase the representation of disabled employees in the organisation.
• Review key stages of the employment lifecycle, such as recruitment and induction, to identify areas for action and improvement.

Tip: Consider what your data tells you about the barriers experienced by your disabled employees. How can these barriers be addressed? Take additional feedback on how the barriers can be addressed if necessary. This reflection may form part of your future action plan.

Recommendations

• Make sure that every action in your plan is SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound – and has a clear owner.
• Depending on the findings of your data-gathering exercise, you may want to prioritise your actions, addressing any key areas of concern first.
• Consider who in the organisation is ultimately responsible for delivering the action plan. Larger organisations may wish to set up regular meetings to monitor progress and set out who is responsible and accountable for achieving each element.
• Review what information has and hasn’t been shared and consider what this means for the reliability of your data. Be open and honest about this in your report and action plan. Consider appointing a senior leader as overall owner and champion for the work.

There are many ways to share your findings and resulting action plans. The information gathered can be shared internally with employees as well as externally: this could include newsletters, an internal intranet, the company website, emails, blogs or team briefings.

Tip: If you were supported by employees in developing your plan or gathering your data, such as your disabled employee network, make sure to share your findings with them too.

Recommendations

• Share your key findings and action plan with employees before publishing it externally. Make sure that this is accessible to all employees, wherever and however they work. Larger organisations may wish to set up a regular schedule of communications to update employees on progress. Always try to issue a progress update before the next data collection activity. Employees will be more engaged if they can see that participation is making a difference.
• Don’t report findings that may identify someone, even in anonymous collections. This is why the Equality and Human Rights Commission says you should not report on numbers less than 10. In such instances, the figure should be reported in, for example, a data table as ‘<10’.
• Provide a summary of your key findings to highlight the most important information, key metrics, issues and challenges.
• Consider your visual representation of the data – how can you make it engaging for the audience? For example, charts, graphs and infographics can help communicate information in a clear and engaging way. Ensure data is accessible for all and that people can ask for information in a different format.
• Clearly set out in the report the sources of data that you used, including any limitations in the data or its collection.
• The UK Government’s framework recommends that, where produced, the organisation’s annual reports are the most suitable place to share findings and action plans. Alternatively, they can also be shared on your website.
• Include a summary of the key commitments or actions that the organisation will take, along with the proposed timeline.

Tip: Include the question used to identify the percentage of disabled employees in the report and/or explain how you are defining disability for the purposes of your reporting.

Your agreed action plan should be reviewed for progress on a regular basis – and not just when it is time to undertake further data gathering.

Recommendations

• Set up regular review points or meetings with stakeholders, employee groups and those individuals who have taken ownership of specific actions to review and document progress.
• Communicate your progress on actions regularly, for example, include updates through internal communication channels and update any employee networks or support groups. This step can also help to improve the sharing of disability and health information rates for the future if employees can see meaningful progress.
• Consider setting up a simple tracking system such as using red, amber and green flags to monitor your activity and actions – this will help you to identify any issues with progress and take remedial steps.

Post-project reviews (PPRs) are not specific to disability workforce reporting but are effectively a process for collating and reflecting on feedback after a project to inform improvements for next time. It can be a useful way to ensure all feedback from stakeholders collected throughout the project is listened to and used. Those involved in delivering the project should also give feedback from their own perspectives. The process is also a way of retaining good feedback and positive engagement to design ‘back in’ to the next disability workforce project.  

Recommendations

Consider asking the following questions as part of your post-project review: 

• What did we set out to achieve?
• What actually happened?
• What went well and why?
• What can be improved and why?
• What do we want to replicate next time?
• What do we want to ensure we do not replicate next time?

Part of this process for a disability workforce reporting project should include considering feedback from disabled employees, which may include any questions or comments on language and narratives used, as well as from the project team on, for example, if there were any gaps in the data or actions to improve response rates during the next data collection phase.

The 'further resources' section provides useful links and information to help you develop your approach over time.

The 'overcoming barriers and challenges to disability workforce reporting' section also details some of the common challenges to disability workforce reporting and ways of overcoming these. 

Research has identified several potential barriers to effective disability workforce reporting. These are considered here, along with some tips to address them, to support you with undertaking the steps to completion.

Some employees do not tell their employer that they have a disability or do not feel comfortable providing this information to their organisations, so you may not be sure of the true number of disabled employees. Deciding whether to share a disability or health condition is a complex and very personal decision. Some employees may choose to never share information about their health or disability: this could be a personal preference or be for cultural or religious reasons. Employees should never be put under pressure to disclose but be encouraged to do so if they feel it is appropriate for them. Communicate the benefits of sharing information and provide regular opportunities and reminders to provide this information.

Not all organisations will have systems (such as HR systems) that are capable of recording disability data, or the internal resources to undertake detailed data gathering or subsequent action plans. If you are a small organisation or lack resources, this doesn’t mean you cannot engage in meaningful disability workforce reporting or building a supportive culture – it is better to do something, however small, than do nothing. Try reviewing the recommendations and tips within this guidance and identify what works for you with the resources you have available. If you have an HR system and it does not support the sharing of disability and health information, talk to your systems provider to see if they are able to make any changes.

Engaged and committed leadership can play a key role in the success of inclusion initiatives, especially as they can help with access to resources and remove barriers. However, not all leaders will be aware of disability workforce reporting or might be sceptical about the potential benefits. Therefore, it is critical to establish the need for and the value of supporting disability workforce reporting as an initial step. The benefits set out in this document can be a helpful starting point – share these with leaders and carefully explain what disability workforce reporting is and why it should matter to the organisation.

If you are considering a specific survey, you will need to decide what questions you want to ask your employees, as well as your overall approach. Asking open-ended (qualitative) questions can result in a lot of useful detail and rich data but will take more time to analyse than simple ‘yes /no’ or ‘scale’ (quantitative) questions.

Here are some suggestions for quantitative questions, where employees can answer based on a scale, such as 1–5, 1–10 or yes/no:

• Have you shared your disability/long-term health condition with us? If no, why is this?
• Have you asked for any adjustments to support you at work? If yes, how effective have they been?
• How supportive is your immediate manager?
• To what extent do you feel comfortable to share your disability/long-term health condition at work?
• When you applied for your role with us, did you experience any barriers during the recruitment process? If yes, what were they?
• When you joined the organisation, did you experience any barriers during your induction process? If yes, what were they?
• Have we provided you with all the required workplace adjustments so that you can do your job effectively?
• Do you feel that having a long-term health condition or disability has had an impact on your ability to progress within the organisation?

Open-ended questions could also include:

• What does our organisation do well in relation to supporting disabled employees?
• What further support could we offer our disabled employees?
• How could we make our culture more inclusive in relation to our ways of working, systems or processes?
• Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your experience of working for us?
• What challenges or difficulties do you experience during your work as a disabled employee?
• What changes would you make in relation to our approach towards disability inclusion or supporting disabled employees?

Tip: If you ask open-ended questions, you can analyse the responses by grouping them into overarching themes – these can then be reflected in your reporting and action plan. For example, ‘support’ suggestions could be grouped into reflections on systems, processes, adjustments, support or HR activities.

When gathering your data, you may want to consider if it is appropriate to ask for additional information about employees’ personal characteristics, such as their age, race, religion and belief, sex or sexual orientation. If you have the resources to do so, this can provide an important additional layer of information about intersectionality – this means the extent to which the combination of characteristics shapes people’s life experiences. For example, a female disabled employee may have different experiences compared with a male disabled employee.

Please find some additional information and links to other relevant guidance:

Disability at Work Hub 

Supporting disabled people at work 

Access to Work

Building inclusive workplaces

CIPD Viewpoint: Disability equality at work

Disability Confident Campaign

Recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition – A practical guide for line managers 

Improving lives: The future of work, health and disability 

Thriving at work: A review of mental health and employers

UK Government voluntary reporting framework for disability, mental health and wellbeing