May 2021

In the UK, 7.7million people of working age have a disability; yet many disabled people struggle to find work often due to a culture which is a bit of a mixture of unintended prejudice and worry by those recruiting, rather than tangible concern as to the quality of their work. There are a whole host of reasons why all employers should be hiring disabled people as they do able-bodied ones, and here, we lay out just some of the benefits companies can expect from doing so. The Biggest Brands in the UK are already Hiring Disabled People Some of the world’s most successful big businesses already have a vast talent pool of disabled people, and swear by them! The UK Government’s ‘Disability Confident’ scheme has seen brands who previously hadn’t commented on their hiring practices do so to encourage others to take the same path. This includes Royal Mail, who say they hire disabled people to “truly reflect the communities that we serve”; MITIE, who say their most recently disabled member of staff has “great social interaction in both the group and office environment”; Lloyds Banking Group, who insist their disabled candidates “are so good and fit in so well, we don’t want to lose them!”; and M&S, who refer to disabled people as “a fantastic pool of talented people”. If it works for brands as successful as these, surely it can work for anyone. Disabled People make Great Employees Anecdotal evidence from the businesses that hire disabled people as a matter of course is that their disabled workforce work harder and is more committed than their able-bodied counterparts! Indeed it’s definitely true that disabled people can find it harder to get their feet on the career ladder at all. BT said, “disabled candidates stay with us longer and perform as effectively, if not better than their colleagues”, and ASDA’s employment team agree, stating their disabled staff’s “commitment is massive”. It’s Good Business Ethics to Diversify your Talent Pool Corporate Social Responsibility is no longer considered just a ‘nice to have’ policy filed away somewhere – it is now something tangible that every business, of every discernible type, shape, and size, should be doing at all levels throughout its management model. A genuine equal opportunities employer will hire disabled people as a matter of course because, in some instances, they are simply the right person for the job. Hiring Disabled People Brings Fresh Perspectives No audience and customer base will ever be 100% white, thin, able-bodied, and neurotypical people, and so neither should a brand’s staff be. Hiring disabled people is just one step to reflecting an audience better internally within a business; helping businesses to develop and tailor their ways of working, and products and services, to better meet the needs and wants of their customer base. Disabled people are in a unique position to offer a new perspective, and therefore improvement and adaptation ideas for business practices, processes, procedures, and products. The possibilities are endless!