10 Signs That Your Organisation Isn’t as Inclusive as You May Think

It’s not unusual for organisations to believe they are excelling in their disability inclusion efforts, only to find the reality is quite different. They might provide onboarding training, encourage job applications from individuals with disabilities, or even appoint a dedicated EDI officer. But how can they be sure these initiatives are genuinely effective?

The truth is, fostering an inclusive workplace requires more than ticking boxes or meeting baseline standards. True inclusion involves actively identifying and dismantling barriers, while cultivating a workplace culture where every individual feels welcomed, respected, and empowered to thrive.

Luckily, there are some obvious signs that indicate that you aren’t doing quite as well as you think you are.

1. There is a lack of disability representation in all teams

Not having any staff who have a disability can indicate two things. Firstly, there may be issues with accessibility in your recruitment processes (which can also indicate workplace culture issues). Secondly, employees don’t feel comfortable disclosing their disabilities, which indicates an even bigger issue with your workplace culture. A way to begin changing this is reassessing the training programmes that you are providing.

 Perhaps your idea of disability awareness is limited to basic e-learning modules or tick-box exercises, both of which lack depth and impact, and will not lead to any meaningful change. Holistic, user-led, interactive training is essential in this instance, as it is the best way to build empathy, understanding knowledge and confidence around disability, leading to true cultural change.

2. Disability has no voice

Does disability have a strong voice in your workplace? To be truly inclusive, organisations require an active voice of representation, preferably from people with disabilities themselves. If this is lacking, then launch a disability network, or steering group to advocate for accessibility in policies and operations. Ensure there is representation from the C-Suite so that it is effective.

3. Job postings don’t clearly state your commitment to inclusivity

If you are genuinely committed to inclusivity and would like to welcome candidates with disabilities, shout about it! Your job advertisements should encourage and support applicants with disabilities. Why not aim to be a Disability Confident Employer- and add that logo to your website, ads, social media and so on when achieved.

4. Your environment presents barriers

As I’ve said before- there is a lot more to accessibility than ramps. Of course, any efforts to be more accessible are always commendable, but there’s always room to improve. The more accessible you make your space, the more likely you are to improve inclusivity.   A good way to gain a full understanding of the limitations your space presents, is to execute a thorough access audit (Bascule Disability Training provides this service) to identify barriers that might prevent full participation. From lighting to signage, noise levels to furniture layout, all aspects of your physical workspace should be considered to ensure genuine accessibility.

5. Your products and services are not inclusive

Inclusivity isn’t just for employees—it should also extend to customers. If your products, services, or offerings are difficult to use for people with disabilities, you may be alienating a key demographic. Inclusive design, service, products and approach, will bolster your inclusive culture and further enhance your appeal and offering to a wider demographic, which counts for 24% of the UK’s population!

6. Bullying/’banter’ and inappropriate behaviour is sometimes overlooked

Toxic workplace cultures are way more common than you would imagine -check out our blog for more info on that and how commonplace and widely accepted shouting, bullying, and personal jokes really are. If this behaviour is tolerated, this can be a sign that inclusivity in your workplace is not as strong as you think. Why? Because if inappropriate behaviour is normalised, people with disabilities will either not seek to work for you, or if they have hidden disabilities, they may be hesitant to disclose them through the fear of how people will react. Eventually, this could lead to a discrimination or harassment claim.

7. People with disabilities are not in senior roles

In an ideal world, staff with disabilities should be present in every level of the organization, not just in lower or entry-level roles. Take a long look at your organisation’s hierarchy and look at whether people with disabilities are represented in management positions, and if the opportunities to get to these positions are equal. Take some time to think honestly about promotions, professional development, and leadership and any potential hurdles that may exist. Ask your existing staff with disabilities if they see any barriers to advancement.

8. Rigid policies that become barriers

“That’s just how it’s always been done”, can be a very dangerous school of thought. If you understand that your organisation has a very firm approach to how staff work, in terms of hours, flexibility, hybrid positions and so on, these policies could potentially be signs that inclusion is being prevented. For example, if positions can be hybrid, or flexible as a means to a reasonable adjustment- why not state that in the job application phase?  It will significantly increase accessibility and encouraging attention from job seekers with disabilities will certainly widen your pool of applicants.

9. Your website fails to meet modern accessible standards

Nowadays, you can find out how accessible your website is with great ease and relatively low cost. And when you consider how you could be excluding a significant number of potential visitors, it makes great sense. Common barriers include a lack of screen reader compatibility, poor colour contrast, and non-descriptive image alt text. Addressing these issues is essential if you want to attract both job applicants and customers with disabilities.

10. Social media and marketing ignore the needs of people with disabilities

Inclusivity is not just for your HR, or EDI teams, it’s a companywide effort and your entire workforce should be disability aware. If your teams are communicating externally and not creating materials and content that addresses everyone’s needs- this is once again a sign that you are failing to be inclusive and ignoring a great percentage of the population. Things like using alt text, images, captions, font choices, subtitles, inclusive language and colours all need consideration, as do the formats of materials you distribute. If your marketing team lacks disability awareness, or they don’t see the importance of inclusion, this will be made clear in any external communications, which sends a pretty clear message.

In essence, an inclusive organisation regularly checks its progress, assesses its barriers, breaks them down and makes changes. The most important aspect of all inclusive efforts always remains the same – change minds and the rest of the work will look after itself. Once awareness and understanding is established as something important, the rest of the changes will occur naturally.

CHRIS JAY, MANAGING DIRECTOR – BASCULE DISABILITY TRAINING

If you would like to find out more about Bascule’s consultancy, training and audit services- drop us a line and we will help you improve inclusion.

info@bascule.com