Relevant fact sheets

Why should you bother about disability?

Many smaller employers find employment law difficult and feel that it poses a threat to their business. However, disability is more common than people often think and being a flexible employer can mean you get the best out of your staff. Whether it's understanding childcare needs, flexibility for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions or days off for religious observance, on the whole, you get back what you put in.

Make your workforce more representative of the community it serves

Making sure that you can recruit and retain the one in five people of working age who is disabled in the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) isn't something you should do just because there's a law about it or because it's a good thing to do. It can:

  • make your workforce more representative of the community it serves
  • attract and keep able staff
  • avoid undervaluing, under-using or losing able staff
  • avoid the costs and worry of recruiting and training someone new when you could have kept an employee - and kept valuable business expertise
  • improve staff morale and productivity
  • improve the way all staff are managed, including in areas like health and safety and absence
  • help to develop good practice that improves customer care as well as your employment practice.