Addressing workplace discrimination against people with disabilities

A key finding of an ESRI report last year on disability and discrimination was that the odds for experiencing discrimination at work, or while looking for work, were twice as high for people with disabilities, compared to those without.

With latest census figures showing more than 600,000 people with disabilities living in Ireland, the question of how to reduce discrimination for people with disabilities in the labour market remains pertinent for employers and the State.

The problem can be addressed in part by putting more focus on job criteria at recruitment phase, suggests Paul Gillen, employment partner at Pinsent Masons. "Clearly employers want to get the best person for the role. By excluding certain groups, the pool of choice for employers is significantly reduced and employers will be limited in the talent they recruit."

“At Pinsent Masons, we advise employers that they need to really think about the job role and the criteria for selecting applicants, as some criteria can have a more negative impact on certain groups,” says Gillen.

Difficult

“For example some mental and physical conditions may make it difficult for an employee to work early mornings, so an employer should consider whether it is really important that a person works between 8am and 4pm. An employer should have regard to whether the criteria they have set could have such an impact on those with a disability, and where the criteria is essential to the job whether there can be any reasonable accommodations to facilitate applications from those with disabilities.”

Partnering with work placement programmes for recruitment can also be beneficial, says Niamh McLoughlin, accessibility and inclusion leader within the Mercer Ireland Diversity and Inclusion Group.

“Programmes such as the Willing Able Mentoring (WAM) programme can help” says McLoughlin. “This is a work placement programme run by Ahead, the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability which promotes access to the labour market for graduates with disabilities and builds the capacity of employers to integrate disability into mainstream workplace. Under this programme, employers collaborate with WAM to offer mentored, paid work placements for graduates with disabilities.”

“But the issue is not just in recruitment,” she points out, “a broad range of HR policies designed to make a company more accessible and inclusive will help people with disabilities face less discrimination in the workplace.”

Outside of the recruitment phase, the need for employers to educate management and employees, and restructure internal systems to reduce discrimination faced by people with disabilities is also paramount.

“Being a more accessible and inclusive employer starts with creating awareness of disability issues in the workplace,” says McLoughlin. “Such awareness also addresses the concerns and misconceptions that employers and employees may have about working with disabled people. Disability awareness training courses are run by many providers in Ireland, and are funded by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.”

Networking with other companies and organisations can also be useful, she suggests. “The Open Doors initiative offers an official forum for organisations to provide expertise and guidance to other companies who pledge to join the initiative and commit to adopting practices and policies to remove barriers to employment for marginalised groups, including people with disabilities.”

While information is easily accessible for employers, there can still be a lag in implementation of policies. “Most businesses are aware of their legal obligations,” says Gillen, “but there can be a disconnect in applying this in practice. At Pinsent Masons we advise clients on having policies and procedures in place to deal with diversity and inclusion across all employment matters.

“However, it is not just having policies and procedures on the shelf. Those operating them should have the training necessary to implement them and to challenge when changes need to be made to these,” says Gillen. “It is not all about legal compliance. Dealing with people matters requires managers to develop other skills, such as diversity and inclusion in practice, avoiding unconscious bias and how to proactively deal with matters as they arise. One key area is empowering all employees to own diversity and inclusion and to have the confidence and the backing to call out behaviours which run contrary to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”

Positive action

Internal systems to handle D&I issues within the company may also be lacking, and beneficial to focus on, according to Gillen. “Employees are now fully aware of the obligations on employers and are more likely now to seek to enforce their employment rights which is positive both for employees and for employers,” he says. “The openness of this can only lead to more positive action in dealing with diversity and inclusion issues.

“What has to be in place is both the carrot and the stick,” suggests Gillen. “Leaving this to employees or applicants having to enforce their rights set out in law is only effective to an extent. There should be more ‘carrot’ to provide effective training to employers, to assist them to put in place adequate policies and procedures. Business does not always run smoothly but where there are mistakes, proper mechanisms to correct the mistakes leads to a win-win for employee and employer.”

While reducing experiences of discrimination in the labour market for people with disabilities requires the implementation of structures and D&I policy within the company, there also needs to be flexibility to work with each individual's needs, suggests McLoughlin. "Some great advice was given at the recent Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission convention on achieving equality at work," she says, "it's not about the employer guessing, it's often about asking the person what the best solution is".