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Ways in which disability awareness training as an onboarding exercise will benefit your business…
Despite there being a vast number of benefits to onboard training, only 12% of employees believe their company does it well (Sapling, Gallup). Surprising really, when you consider that a good onboarding programme has been proven to increase staff retention by 82% (Psycruit) and those who have a poor onboarding experience are two times more likely to look for a new job soon.
Now, if that has made you rethink your onboard offering, you might want to take the time to make sure you have a strong disability awareness element, to show your new recruits that you are inclusive, accessible and fully supportive of disability. Here are just a few ways that adding disability awareness to your introduction training will benefit your organisation:
- Cultural Recognition
Providing onboard training to new staff sets out the stall for your company culture, by showing your dedication to diversity and increasing awareness around disability. It goes without saying that this will certainly resonate well with new staff who have a disability, who will immediately feel the power of your support in the knowledge they are joining an empathetic and educated team. It will also bode well for the new staff with non-visible disabilities, who may have otherwise been inclined not to disclose. The training will show them that the company has an open and supportive approach to disability and staff with additional needs.
- Compliance and liability
Introducing disability awareness training as an onboarding exercise will broaden understandings around the Equality Act 2010, and discrimination (direct and indirect), harassment and victimisation. They will learn about their responsibilities and the rights of colleagues with disabilities, all of which will reduce the likelihood of any behavioural problems or legal issues in the future.
- Understanding, empathy and compassion
As well as set the scene for your company culture, disability awareness fundamentally assists all staff (from all seniority levels in the company hierarchy), to be more understanding, empathetic and compassionate people. This helps people galvanise as a team and consider each other with the respect they deserve.
- Clients, Colleagues and Customers
Any organisation that has any kind of interaction with the general public, will receive great benefits from onboard disability awareness training. Employees will be better equipped to interact, communicate, and converse with any customers or clients with a disability. This will inevitably impact your standard of customer service and improve loyalty and reputation amongst customers with a disability.
- Improving Diversity
Inclusive training whilst onboarding enhances diversity, and this is something that more and more employees are demanding. Research shows that 69% of millennials and Gen Z-ers would be much more likely to work for an employer for more than five years if it has a diverse workforce.
Onboard disability awareness training will improve all worker’s perceptions of disability, which will permeate into all teams. This will mean that inclusivity and accessibility will be considered across various aspects such as workplace design, accessible environments, recruitment processes and so on. As positive perceptions of disability increase, changes will begin to happen, and the number of workers with a disability will inevitably rise.
If you would like to learn about the ways Bascule Disability Training can create on-boarding packages for your staff members, contact us today on info@bascule.com
CHRIS JAY, MANAGING DIRECTOR- BASCULE DISABILITY TRAINING
