The importance of enablement
People with enablement issues often feel disadvantaged in the workplace. Our job as employers is to remove significant barriers to enable everyone to do their jobs as effectively as possible.
We believe in enabling and empowering individuals, helping them to reach their full potential in their roles.
Reasonable Adjustments
The Equality Act 2010 says that you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments when an employee is placed at a ‘substantial disadvantage’ due to a disability when compared with their colleagues.
We should all make reasonable adjustments because doing so:
Enables people to do their job properly
Boosts staff productivity
Creates an equal environment for everyone
Attracts and retains talent
Fosters business growth
Fulfils your legal obligation to do so
Provide Extra Equipment or Services
This is outlined in the Equality Act 2010 as ‘provision of auxiliary aids, including providing information in an accessible form such as Braille, large print, or email’.
It means that if you can reasonably provide something to enable someone to do their job then you must do so.
Change the way things are done
In the Equality Act 2010, this is described as adjusting your ‘provision, criterion, or practice’. Sometimes the way organisations do things makes life harder for people with disabilities. If it is ‘reasonable’ to change this in a way that doesn’t disadvantage anyone, then you must do so. For example, it is your organisation’s policy for staff to park in a designated car park across the road. Allowing an employee with a mobility impairment to park in the visitor spaces directly outside the office building is likely to be considered a reasonable adjustment.
Change a Physical Feature
In the Equality Act 2010, this is known as making reasonable adjustments to ‘physical features, such as the layout of and access to workplaces’.
It means making changes to the physical features of a building, such as passageways and paths, entrances, exits and stairs.
Overview of Enablement Services
Our Enablement services can support individuals and organisations with assessments and adjustments for neurodiversity and disability. Our start to finish process can triage the requirement, provide a specialised assessment, and make specific recommendations to allow individuals to overcome barriers within their workplace.
