EFD Wants Employers to Work Hand in Hand with Disabled Employees
The Employers’ Forum on Disability (EFD) has said that employers and policymakers need to work together to develop the talents of disabled people if inequalities are to be tackled effectively. The EFD’s statistics show that one out of every three people is either disabled or knows someone who has a disability.
It said that 80% of all recruitment and employment processes were inaccessible to people with disabilities. It added that employers should be positioned as part of the solution and not the problem if they were to make any headway to tackle inequality through employment policies.
The National Equality Panel conducted a survey to determine the socio-economic situation in the
Chief Executive Susan Scott-Parker of the EFD commented on the finding of this report and said that it clearly shows that disabled people find it difficult to achieve their potential due to all the barriers and hurdles that they have to face. She said that the industry still had its misconceptions about disabled people and their capability, which was making employers miss the commercial benefits of employing disabled people. She added that organizations that were disability-friendly employers had already developed a better customer service process apart from more efficient recruitment and employment processes.
Susan said that the report was a revelation for the industry and added that appraisal and promotion processes should also be modified to avoid discrimination. She suggested that new policies should be developed which would focus on the employment of disabled people, especially those suffering from mental health conditions.
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