Improving disability performance: a case study on the

Employers’ Forum on DisabilityLondon, United Kingdom

Megan Galeucia IHSP Policy Fellowship 2012

My last day at the Employers’ Forum on Disability, July 2011.

1. MethodologyQuestions:• 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 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

“The entire premise of this organization is mutual benefit. Disabled people must benefit and the business community must benefit.”

- Susan Scott-Parker, CEO

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

• Relationship & account managers understand the members’

particular sectors/industries and constantly adapt services to

members’ feedback

“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

adversary valued stakeholder

potential partner

EMPLOYER:

5. Strategies: Measuring performanceDisability Standard - the world’s first disability

benchmark, endorsed by business & disabled

communities alike

2009: 106 employers participated

Scored in the following categories:

• Employment and

recruitment

• Customer services &

e-commerce

• Health and safety

• Working environment

• IT systems

• Accessibility of goods &

services

• Outsourcing and procurement

• Corporate responsibility &

brand reputation

The EFD

• Aspires to make macro-level impact by

contributing to social change through

influencing key stakeholders: government,

business, and international bodies

6. Strategies: Working with stakeholders

• 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

“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

“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)

8. Challenges & LimitationsInternal:

• Monitoring statistics of

disabled staff

• The Disability Standard – not

the full picture

• Financial sustainability –

success and limitations

• Breadth of mission –

expanding beyond the UK

business community

• Future dynamic leadership

External:

• Expanding role and thought

leadership

• The move from ‘disability’ to

‘diversity’

• Influencing intermediary

organizations

• Maximizing impact &

attracting additional

members

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