Most employers fail to take broad approach on disability

A survey of employer disability policies has found that most organisations are failing to involve key departments in managing disability policies, and this may have an impact on their effectiveness.

Human resources magazine IRS Employment Review surveyed 208 UK employers, employing a total of more than 1.4 million people. It found that in 80% of organisations it is the human resources department that takes the leading role in implementing policies on employee disability. Yet research has shown that accommodating the needs of disabled employees is far more effective when a multidisciplinary approach is adopted, involving occupation health professionals, health and safety experts and employee representatives.

While almost three-quarters of organisations surveyed had a formal policy on the employment of disabled people, only 40% had a system for monitoring the disability of job applicants and employees, and just a quarter had arrangements for consulting disabled employees.

The majority of employers had undertaken some sort of disability audit as a response to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). Almost two-thirds of employers (61%) said they had reviewed their recruitment and selection procedures for disability discrimination, but less than half (42%) had carried out an audit of the physical features of their premises.

Under the terms of the DDA employers are required to make "reasonable adjustments" to accommodate disabled employees, and the most common measures included allowing absence for rehabilitation and treatment (53%), altering a person's working hours (50%), acquiring or modifying equipment (48%), transferring a person to another job or work (47%) or adjusting premises (45%).

"Managing disability at work", IRS Employment Review 738, 15 October 2001, £26.00 from IRS, tel: 020 7354 5858.