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SURVEY RESULTS
OCTOBER 2018
EMPLOYERS’ ATTITUDE TO EMPLOYING
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
www.employerdisabilityinfo.ie
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Summary This report presents the findings from a survey of employers administered from
June until September 2018. The survey was promoted to enterprises associated
with the three national employer organisations (Chambers Ireland, Ibec and
ISME), to the Employer Disability Information (EDI) Employer Peer Network and
via social media channels. There were 250 respondents in total.
The purpose of the survey is to assess employers’ attitudes to employing people
with disabilities, measure the impact of the EDI project over the last two years
of operation and compare results to the previous 2016 survey.
There has been progress on employers’ awareness of the EDI service (21%
increase on 2016 results) and awareness of the supports and grants available
(drop of 9% in respondents who are unaware of DEASP supports since 2016).
There has also been an increase of 14.2% in employer respondents employing
people with disabilities.
The principal reason stated for not employing someone with a disability was
the lack of candidates stating that there was a disability present (52.6%).
Similar to 2016 results, the majority of employers reported being unaware of
applicants’ disabilities (28.9%) yet would consider hiring someone with a
disability (78.3%).
Employers reported that information resources and financial support would
encourage them to employ people with disabilities – 47.8% opted for
information while 46.7% said financial support.
65.7% of respondents were unsure whether employing someone with a
disability would makes their organisation more productive and 49% were
undecided whether there are sufficient supports available to them.
There is still a lack of understanding about supporting different disabilities at
work (60.5%) and how to access such supports (62.7%). Employers are open to
employing people with disabilities but did not know how to go about it.
When compared by size of enterprise, employment of people with disabilities is
greatest in the larger enterprises with a score of 87.9%.
The perceived potential legal consequences is still a concern for employers
with 47.2% of respondents stating it would be a worry if the employment does
not work out.
There is a clear need for guidance, information and financial incentives for
employers in the area of disability and employment.
www.employerdisabilityinfo.ie
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Introduction As part of the ten-year Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with
Disabilities, the Government funded an employer-led support service incorporating a
helpline on a pilot basis until end of December 2018.
The purpose of this service is to build and enhance employer capacity to recruit and
retain staff with disabilities through having ready access to a source of authoritative
advice and information, and to assist employers to be more disability-competent and
disability-confident.
The ultimate aim is to support an increased level of employment of people with
disabilities. The Employers’ Helpline and Guidance Service was launched in January
2016 as the Employers’ Disability Information service (EDI). It is managed by a
consortium of national employer umbrella bodies (Chambers Ireland, Ibec and ISME)
and housed in ISME. It is separately branded and open to all employers in Ireland.
The Consortium manages all aspects of the Employers’ Helpline and Guidance
Service. This includes the management and hosting of a helpline for employers and
the provision of information and guidance supports for employers.
As part of the service a survey of employers was administered in 2016 to establish a
baseline from which progress can be monitored and measured.
This report presents the findings from a follow up survey conducted by Employer
Disability Information service (EDI) in 2018.
The survey was conducted through an internet questionnaire distributed from May till
September 2018 to businesses associated with ISME, Chambers Ireland and Ibec and
was promoted through those organisations. It was also promoted to the EDI Employer
Peer Network and through social media. We sought to gain insight into employers’
attitudes to employing people with disabilities and to establish whether attitudes are
improving.
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Questionnaire
The companies were asked the following questions:
1. Are you aware of the Employer Disability Information service?
2. How did you become aware of the Employer Disability Information service?
3. Are you aware of any of the following supports? - Followed by a list of the
many of the existing supports available.
4. Have you ever employed someone with a disability?
5. Have you ever considered employing someone with a disability?
6. Please give main reasons for not employing someone with a disability.
7. Would you consider hiring someone with a disability in the future?
8. What do you think you would need to encourage you to employ someone
with a disability?
In addition, the respondents were asked to rate their attitude to different aspects of
employment in relation to disability using the following statements:
There are sufficient supports in place to allow me to employ someone with a
disability.
I am open to the idea of employing someone with a disability.
I don't know where to start when employing someone with a disability.
I don't know enough about supporting different disabilities at work.
I am concerned about potential legal implications for the company, if the
person with a disability does not work out.
Employing someone with a disability makes my business more productive.
I don't know enough about the different supports available.
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Respondents Demographic
EDI targeted members of Ibec, Chambers Ireland and ISME by asking the
organisations to share the survey via their marketing channels. The survey was also
shared with the EDI Employer Peer Network, Ibec Diversity Forum the wider business
community via social media.
Staff
2018: 71% employed less than 49 members of staff
2016: 84% employed less than 49 members of staff
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Sector:
2018: 22% service industry
2016: 42% service industry
Location:
The 2018 survey provided more options for respondents. Both surveys showed the
number one response as the Service industry and the second highest was
Manufacturing.
Majority of respondents in
both 2018 and 2016 were
located in Dublin. The
second most common
location was Leinster for
both followed by Munster.
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General Awareness of the Service
Are you aware of the Employer Disability Information Service?
2018 showed that 48% of the 250
respondents were aware of the EDI
Service. This is a positive reflection on
the progress of the pilot programme.
The survey shows a 20.76% increase in
awareness compared to 2016 when
only 27.24% of respondents answered
they were aware of the service.
How did you become aware of the EDI Service?
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Given the survey was sent to members of Ibec, Chambers Ireland and ISME and
considering the exposure that has been given to EDI in terms of articles in
publications and support on social media it is no surprise that the highest result under
this question was ‘Business Representative Organisation’.
2018 top 2:
Business Representative Organisation
Media
2016 top 2:
Business Representative Organisation
Media
Geographically, awareness levels are highest in Leinster at 57%, while in Munster it
was 17%, 6% in Connaught and 1% in Ulster.
Those in the Services sector were least aware of the service at 22%, followed by 15%
in Manufacturing and 9% in Wholesale.
The distribution of the survey itself has raised awareness among the employer target
group as was mentioned by numerous respondents.
www.employerdisabilityinfo.ie
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Awareness of Supports for the employment of persons
with a disability
56% of respondents were unaware of the supports available, a 9% drop in this figure
since 2016 which was 67%. This shows more companies are now aware of the range
of supports available for the employment of persons with a disability.
Micro enterprises scored highest with 39% being unaware of the support services.
Are you aware of any of the following supports? Please tick the relevant
boxes:
There continues to be a lack of awareness among employers around supports and
how to access them. Many employers have reported their difficulties with these
schemes to EDI who have communicated these to the Department of Employment
Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP).
www.employerdisabilityinfo.ie
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Attitudes to employing a person with a disability
In 2016 just over one in three (38%) respondent enterprises had employed someone
with a disability. The 2016 research showed that the larger the enterprise the greater
the employment potential. Nine out of ten of the larger enterprises had employed
someone with a disability. The figures reduced across the sector size as follows:
Medium 58% Small 41% Micro 24%
In 2016, Manufacturing had the highest employment of someone with a disability
coming in at 40%. Those respondents who had not employed someone with a
disability were then asked if they had ever considered employing someone with a
disability. 70% of these replied in the negative.
Looking at 2018 we can see that 52.22% of respondents had employed someone with
a disability. This is a 14.22% increase on 2016. Similarly, the larger the enterprise the
greater the likelihood that they employ someone with a disability.
1 -9 Employees: 38.33% had employed someone with a disability
10 – 49 Employees: 45.16% had employed someone with a disability
50 -249 Employees: 52.00% had employed someone with a disability
250 + Employees: 87.88% had employed someone with a disability
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Break down of sectors with the percentage that have said they had employed
someone with a disability.
Respondents were asked to nominate their main reasons for not employing a person
with a disability.
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Above you will see that in 2018 the majority of employers claimed that no applicant
had made them aware of a disability at 28.9%. In 2016 the result was similar; the main
reason for not employing a person with a disability was that no one with a disability
had ever applied at 41%.
In 2018 we also included further options for respondents to choose ‘Other’ with the
chance to give their reasons in a free text box and ‘Don’t know enough about
supporting disability at work’ – these responses scored 25% and 18.9% respectively.
The subsequent results highlight the need for increased training and awareness
among employers to educate them to provide greater employment opportunities to
people with disabilities. It is evident from the results that many employers had the
perception that disability is exclusively a physical or sensory issue which would cause
great difficulty in their workplaces and would be complex and expensive to
accommodate. There were also many comments relating to the lack of disabled
candidates applying. Some sample responses under the ‘Other’ category are listed
below:
“No one with a disability has applied”
“None applied for our open vacancies”
“There is no access to upper floors so cannot employ person with a disability”
“We actively seek qualified candidates but with a disability, they have to be able to
do the work”
“We do not have a dedicated programme for employment of people with
disabilities”
“Our main work is not suitable for physical disability”
“Disclosure at point of interview is (anecdotally) rare - but this data is not captured or
reported upon so it is not possible to say for certain”
Qualitative research with a sample of employer respondents could provide
explanations for these results. When asked, many employer respondents state that
they do not ask applicants whether they have any special requirements or
reasonable accommodation needs at interview or application stage. They also
admit that they do not track requests for accommodations when recruiting. As a
result, it may be that people with disabilities are applying for vacancies with these
companies but they are not being identified as having a disability or counted as
diverse applicants.
www.employerdisabilityinfo.ie
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Encouragement for employers
In both 2016 and 2018 respondents were asked to agree or disagree with a set of
statements.
In 2016 Employers generally agreed that they did not know enough about supports,
different types of disability and the process involved to employ someone, with scores
of +61, +38 and +33 respectively.
The perceived potential legal consequences of the employment give concern to
many and scores a +38.
Employers did not see disability as impacting on their bottom line as a reason for
reticence. However, they do see the need for relevant supports and do not know
enough about those supports.
In 2018 when asked if ‘There are sufficient supports in place to allow me to employ
someone with a disability’ 28.65 % of respondents agreed with the statement, while
49% neither agreed or disagreed so were unsure whether sufficient support is present
for them to employ people with disabilities.
There is still a lack of understanding about supports, different types of disability and
the process involved to employ someone. However, we can report that the numbers
of people who have an understanding has increased since that last research study
was carried out.
The perceived potential legal consequences of the employment is still a concern for
employers.
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Please rate your attitude to the following:
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What do you think you would need to encourage you to employ
someone with a disability?
The survey highlights the need for increased financial support for employers but
equally the need for information resources, such as the EDI service.
The fact that 78.3% of employers
stated that they would consider hiring
someone with a disability yet don’t
know what supports are available
reinforces the need for the EDI Service
to continue for the lifetime of the
Comprehensive Employment Strategy
for People with Disabilities.
Without financial incentives, adequate support and education for employers, there
will continue to be low numbers of people with disabilities in employment.
The results of this survey demonstrate the knowledge gap facing employers when it
comes to employing someone with a disability. The increase in employers’ awareness
of EDI and in the number of companies employing staff with disabilities highlights the
significant progress of the service since the last survey was conducted in 2016.
