Why disability inclusion is important within the Tech Sector

Around 19% of the UK’s working population has a disability but this is not reflected among employees working in the tech sector. Tech now accounts for around two million jobs in the UK but only 9% of all IT specialists have a disability. That means the sector—including us, here at Sage—is missing out on hundreds of thousands of talented would-be employees and everything they could bring.

Under the 2010 Equality Act, you are considered disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial, long-term negative effect on your ability to do everyday activities. This covers a wide range of conditions including progressive conditions, cancer, a visual condition, dyslexia, mental health conditions and autism. 

So what do companies like Sage need to do better to increase accessibility for differently abled people and attract valuable members of the wider society to our businesses? Let’s explore the issue.

Why disability inclusion is important

With tech job opportunities at a ten-year high, the net needs to be cast as widely as possible to make sure that organisations within the sector are getting the best talent, but the numbers suggest this just isn’t happening to the degree that it should be.

Globally, people with disabilities are 50% less likely to get jobs—and the jobs they do get are likely to be at lower corporate levels, meaning on average a person with a disability receives around £17,000 less per year than a non-disabled counterpart with the same level of education.

These are clearly not statistics that any business genuinely committed to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) likes to hear and that’s as true here at Sage as anywhere within the corporate world. To be the best, you need the best talent. If thousands of highly skilled people are being overlooked or don’t feel able to apply, that’s a huge spectrum of abilities, passion and personality all being lost to industry. 

So what do businesses need to do?

Increase opportunity for disabled employees to share their experiences

Commitment to delivering a more equitable, inclusive environment for a diverse workforce starts at the top—with senior leadership. Which is one of the reasons why Sage’s Colleague Success Networks were established: to create a direct channel between underrepresented groups of people from within the workforce and the business’s top leaders, and not just those heading up DE&I strategy, but right across the company.

The Ability network, just one of those Colleague Success Networks, has given people with different conditions and impairments a platform from which to voice their insights, concerns and ideas to the business’s senior leadership. This gives Sage the knowledge it needs to shape everything from its physical environments to its working practices and policies; from its benefits packages to its communications infrastructure. And, as Senior Web Experience Manager Jonny Sands confirms, that knowledge then filters out across the business.

“I might look at something completely different to you, or someone else that has a disability…” Jonny says. “...And I might think, ‘oh well that works for me,’ but I don’t understand how different diagnoses work, how people might struggle with colours [for instance]. I think we can only get a positive experience by having more people with disabilities within the Web Experience team because life isn’t just through one set of eyes, you’ve got to see everything from everyone’s perspective.”

Enable employees to feel free to focus every day

Whilst ‘workplace adjustments’ is the legal term for any adaptation made in the workplace to ensure equal access and opportunity for a disabled person, Sage wants its employees to feel supported by equipment, working environments and working arrangements that enable them because it is simply the right thing to do.

After partnering with the Business Disability Forum and running an internal review on the workplace adjustments process,the results revealed that our workplace adjustments processes did not provide the experience we wanted for our employees. As Global DEI Director Helen Baker explains, we have a great opportunity ahead of us to ensure that processes are visible, connected, educational, accessible and quick.

“ Here at Sage we are evolving our approach for workplace adjustments to ensure that there is a central online hub for employees to go for information, our processes are clear and documented and budgets are centralised for faster procurement. Self-education support will also be available for leaders and colleagues to reduce stigma and support more sensitive types of conversations. We know we won’t get everything right straight away, but we are improving the experience with employees involved in the process to ensure accessibility and a people centred approach .”

Increase pathways to leadership for differently abled employees

When it comes to people with disabilities in leadership positions, the employment gap becomes even starker. Across the UK, disabled people who are in work are significantly less likely to be employed as managers, directors or senior officials, or in professional occupations.

In order to improve this situation, Craig Inglis, Executive Vice President of Global Brand & Integrated Marketing, says first it is important for organisations like Sage to understand what their current situation is, in terms of differently abled colleagues, and have a clear plan of how to make the entire organisation and all the positions within it more accessible for them.

“Be clear about where you are and the type of journey you’re trying to go on, where you’re trying to get to,” he says. “Part of that might be, for instance, that we create the forums and the environment, whether it’s mentoring programmes or connection into other teams, that perhaps those people wouldn’t normally get. Whatever is right to create pathways to be able to tackle the lack of diversity [in leadership]. You’ve got to put your money where your mouth is, basically.”

Promote your inclusive culture and encourage your ambassadors to speak out

Carlos Pullen Ferreira is Vice President of Business Transformation and one of the lead voices in the Abilty Colleague Success Network. He says that, as a person with autism, he actively chose to work for Sage because he felt he would be enabled as a leader, in the best way possible, and because he trusts he’ll be able to empower other differently abled would-be leaders in the future:

“Being autistic means you’re judged throughout your life because you’re not the same,” he explains. “Six years ago I chose to come and work at Sage because they had a strategy, they had a vision that I was quite keen to be involved in… I am very proud of what I’ve achieved, I’m grateful for what I’ve achieved and every day I am grateful for what I will achieve in future, because that ultimately is my purpose and a big part of that is sharing it with others. It’s not just about saying ‘this is what I’ve achieved’, it’s ‘how do I help others achieve similar?’” 

Whilst there is clearly a long way to go for the tech sector in opening up pathways to leadership for differently abled people, what’s important is that the dialogue has opened and that strategies are being formed.

Be part of the conversation. Visit our website to learn more about life at Sage.