Disability workforce reporting

There are more than seven million people of working age with a disability or long-term health condition in the UK. Around half of them are in work but many more would like to work, and they represent a great source of skills and talent.

According to UK Government “you’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities”.

Their definitions of substantial and long term are:

• “Substantial is more than minor or trivial, for example it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed.”
• “Long-term means 12 months or more, for example a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection.”

Here is more information on government definitions and NHS definitions on long term health conditions. Also see the CIPD guide on managing and supporting employees with long-term health conditions.

Most organisations now realise the importance of inclusive work cultures and the benefits that equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) can deliver for them and the people who work for them. However, some people with disabilities or long-term health conditions face prejudice or cannot access the support they need to help them reach their potential or even remain in work and progress their career.

Taking a proactive and inclusive approach to managing disability can bring many benefits for organisations and the people who work for them. For example:

• increased commitment from employees as you are ensuring that people with disabilities and those with long-term health conditions are able to fulfil their potential at work
• the ability to tap into different perspectives and skills, which can boost innovation and performance
• the ability to recruit and retain good people
• it evidences that you are a socially responsible employer, which in turn helps to meet the expectations of stakeholders, jobseekers and employees, as well as the wider community
• corporate image and reputation can be enhanced by the positive experiences that people with disabilities (as well as their friends, families and carers) have of your organisation.  

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.

We would like to encourage more employers to build inclusive cultures around disability, and to 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.

There are many different types of disability data that can be captured. How much data you are able to capture will depend on your organisation’s resources and systems.

Quantitative data

• The number of employees in your organisation with a disability.
• The types of disabilities or conditions employees have.
• The number of disabled employees by type and level of role.
• Promotions and re-appointments.
• Disability pay gap (the average difference in pay between employees who have a disability and employees who do not).
• Workplace adjustments (whether everyone who needs adjustments has them).

Qualitative data

• Lived experiences of working in the organisation with a disability. 

Being clear on your aims and objectives can help with focusing the actions you take as well as support with your communications and engagement plan. Aims and objectives may include:

• hiring more disabled employees into the organisation
• supporting the retention of disabled employees
• ensuring all disabled employees are supported
• ensuring workplace adjustments are in place for all disabled employees
• increasing progression opportunities for people with disabilities
• increasing disability representation at more senior levels
• removing the disability pay gap
• improving organisational reputation.

Recommendations

• You can use these the aims and objectives above to develop a business case for disability workforce reporting – this will be especially important if leaders are unsure of the benefits or costs.

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.

Recommendations

• Avoid disability-related conversations during uncertain times within the organisation.
• By asking questions at strategic times, employees are likely to react more positively.

Developing a communications plan will support you to have clear and consistent messaging around the reporting and gain buy in from stakeholders. Consider the following points when developing your plan:

• Seek feedback on your plans for disability workforce reporting.
• Explain 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.
• Be clear on the purpose of the disability reporting.
• Be transparent on what areas you intend to report on and why, including limitations and barriers to data collection.
• Produce a series of ‘frequently asked questions’ that will be used to communicate important facts about your approach to disability workforce reporting.

There are a range of stakeholders you will need to engage with throughout the process, depending on the size of your organisation. The following table highlights factors to consider when engaging with different stakeholder groups.  

Recommendations

• Employees - 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.
• People Managers - Engage with people managers about the process – they could be key in encouraging engagement and can help to share important information with their teams.
• Senior Leader Sponsor - 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.
• Employee Networks - Seek their views and input throughout the reporting project.
• Trade Unions - Seek their views and input throughout the reporting project.
• Disability Champions -  Establish a group of disability champions who are interested in getting involved with the workforce reporting action plan initiatives who have lived experiences of disability and/or a long-term health condition.

As detailed above, 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 this 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:

• HR systems (ensure employees are aware of how this information is stored and who has access to it)
• HR data sets on grade, role, recruitment, promotion, pay and progression and engagement
• anonymous disability surveys to employees
• employee engagement surveys
• focus groups for employees with a disability
• feedback from disability employee groups, where they exist
• information on the provision of reasonable adjustments.

You may not be able to gather all data sets using the above methods 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.

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.

Presenting your results

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.

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.

Share your key findings with employees before publishing it externally. Make sure that this is accessible to all employees, wherever and however they work.

Recommendations

• Any findings that may identify someone, even in anonymous collections, should not be reported
• You should not report on numbers less than 10, as per the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidelines. In such instances, the figure should be reported in, for example, a data table as ‘<10’.
• The UK Government’s framework recommends that, where produced, findings and action plans are best shared in your organisation’s annual report. Alternatively, they can also be shared on your website.
• 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.

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.

It is best to develop your action plan with disability champions/volunteers. Also consider engaging with wider stakeholder groups (employee networks, Trade Unions) to get input to your draft action plan.

There are many different activities and initiatives that you might want to consider for your action plan, considering 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.
• Increase the voice of disabled employees within your organisation.
• 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.
• 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

• Create a SMART action plan – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
• Prioritise your actions, addressing key areas of concern first.
• Agree owners – overall and for each element of the action plan.

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, they are a process for collating and reflecting on feedback after a project to inform improvements for next time. It is important to gather feedback from all stakeholders, but specifically disabled workers.

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?

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. 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 well does your manager support your disability/long-term health condition?
• 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?
• 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 barriers, 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