Mandatory disability workforce and pay gap reporting could have unintended consequences for disabled employees, according to research from the Business Disability Forum (BDF).
Its report, Towards meaningful disability workforce and pay gap reporting, found that while the intentions behind disability pay gap reporting are good, reporting on the pay gap alone will not achieve meaningful change for disabled people at work.
Yesterday (18 March) the government launched a consultation into the introduction of mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. The current proposal would require employers with 250 or more staff to show pay gaps across the workforce in the same way they already report gender pay gaps.
However, the BDF has warned that introducing mandatory reporting could mean employers sometimes decline requests for reasonable adjustments such as a reduction in hours so that this does not widen their disability pay gap.
Disability pay gap reporting
Ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting: Lessons from employers ahead of the curve
One employer admitted to declining adjustments such as job carving (redesigning a role around someone’s needs) or reduced hours because this would affect its disability pay gap, for example.
The research also found that disabled employees were less in favour of mandatory reporting than employers, because they didn’t feel that collecting data would be effective, nor that it was the right type of data to make meaningful change at work.
Similarly, some organisations that have been proactive about workplace adjustments or flexible working for disabled employees have found that the number of staff disclosing that they have a disability fell. Employers with good processes “rarely” need to know if an employee has a disability, just what they find difficult.
One employee responding to the research said: “Inclusion appears to be ‘double-edged’. To be included, do we have to say we have a disability? Employers should just be kind to everyone.”
The BDF also pointed out that new reporting requirements could see employers having to fulfil four mandatory reporting responsibilities, each with different requirements, and many already report on disability under obligations such as the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Finally, disability pay gap reporting is not about how much disabled people earn, it said, but why they earn what they earn. Often, the research found, disabled employees wanted to do more (and potentially earn more) but others wanted to manage their disability and do less.
Angela Matthews, director of public policy and research at BDF, said: “At first glance, mandatory disability workforce reporting seems simple and the right thing to do. Our research shows, however, that reporting on numbers alone will not achieve greater inclusion for disabled people in workplaces and in the wider labour market.
“Worse still, such reporting may even come at the expense of inclusion with both disabled employees and employers expressing concerns about the unintended consequences of current proposals.
“Meaningful disability workforce and pay gap reporting must measure the experience of disabled people in the workplace, not just provide a snapshot of how many disabled people were in employment and what they were paid at one particular moment in time.
“We urge the government and other decision-makers to take on board our findings and recommendations as they take forward their plans.
The BDF recommends that the government:
- Recognises that mandatory reporting puts the onus on employees as much as a duty on employers. “Reportable figures are not about how many disabled people there are in a workforce; they are about how many disabled people have chosen to tell their employer that they are disabled – and no employer should be pressurising disabled people to share this information at work if they do not want to,” it advises.
- Checks that nothing in the proposal discourages employers from taking up and expanding disability employment programmes or “job carving” initiatives to improve their pay gap figure.
- Allows employers to submit a narrative with their data which shows the story behind the figures – this will allow businesses to share good practice and say what they plan to do to improve disability inclusion.
- Makes sure that the requirements allow for reporting by hourly pay as well as by hours worked – this would allow employers to consult with employees to check they are happy with their current hours.
- Explains how it will identify and deal with employers who demonstrate practices that result in poor experiences for disabled people.
The government’s consultation into mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting closes on 10 June.
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