More than nine in 10 (95.3%) of organisations surveyed for the LexisNexis Butterworths publication said they now have a formal policy on disability, typically as part of a wider equality or diversity policy.
Employers are increasingly allowing absence for rehabilitation and treatment (cited by eight in 10 employers), acquiring or modifying equipment, altering individual working hours, assigning a person to other work and providing flexible working arrangements.
Over the past five years, the proportion of disabled people in the workplace has either increased or remained constant in most organisations – although this was largely attributable to an increase in disability reporting.
In more than eight in 10 organisations able to provide an answer, the change was thought to be at least partly attributable to an increase in the number of people defined as having a disability. And nearly two-thirds mentioned that, in part, it was due to a rise in the reporting of disabilities.
The IRS study of disability at the workplace was conducted through a postal questionnaire during summer 2005.
