Symbol is meaningless

The government’s “two ticks” symbol for ensuring equality for disabled people is a meaningless “empty shell”, new research suggests.

Thousands of employers have been awarded the “two ticks positive about disability” symbol for making five commitments regarding recruitment, training, retention, consultation and disability. However, research by Kim Hoque of Warwick Business School and Nick Bacon of Cass Business School found that only around one in seven (15%) of organisations awarded the two ticks symbol adhered to all five of the commitments.

Under one in five (18%) of those who had been awarded the symbol had not fulfilled any of the commitments, while just less than two in five (38%) had only kept to one.

Hoque said the research found no difference in support and commitment between companies who had the two ticks symbol and those that did not. There was also “no difference between the public and private sector,” he said.

The “two ticks” symbol was being used rather cynically by employers for public relations purposes “rather than because of a genuine concern for disability issues”, Hoque suggested.

The research was based on a survey of trade union disability champions at 116 organisations, including 82 in “two tick” workplaces, on how far their employer adheres to the five commitments.

www.wbs.ac.uk/news/employers-breaking-promises-to-disabled-people