Disability Standard results reveal that disability is still perceived as just a HR priority

Disability Standard results reveal that disability is still perceived as just a human resources priority

The Employersí Forum on Disability today releases the results of the worldís first benchmarking exercise on disability for both public and private sector organisations. Eighty UK employers took part and the results reveal that the way organisations respond to disability, including customers and the wider community, is usually left to HR.

Disability Standard results show that disability action plans, policies and budgets appear concentrated in HR and property services departments with much less evidence of action plans and standards being set to ensure the accessibility of products and services.

However, most organisations would find they needed to engage departments other than HR and property were they to act on what they learn from consultations with disabled employees and customers.

36% or less set disability goals in departments outside human resources and property services.

26% of organisations use the results of consultation with disabled employees to help set disability goals and policies.

29% of organisations use the results of consultation with disabled customers to help set disability goals and policies.

Of the 80 organisations that participated in the Disability Standard Benchmark Survey, 26 also benchmarked their performance on race and gender over the past year. Thanks to information supplied by Race for Opportunity and Opportunity Now, the Forum has been able to compare their performance on disability with that on race and gender.

The resulting picture is one of organisations investing significantly less in disability, compared to race or gender. This pattern even holds true for those organisations that are outstanding in their commitment to self-improvement across all three diversity strands.

Forum chief executive, Susan Scott-Parker said:

ëIt would seem disability and disability discrimination are still regarded as distinctly different to ñ and less important than ñ race and gender.í

For further details of the results, including other trends and sector comparisons, copies of the Disability Standard 2005 Benchmark Report are available from the Employersí Forum on Disability on 020 7403 3020.