While organisations have made great strides in terms of diversity and inclusion, opening up apprenticeships to applicants with hidden disabilities could prove an untapped source of huge talent, according to Mark Soady.
The last decade has been monumental in improving diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) in business, mostly thanks to global social issues that have put a spotlight on enacting change, such as the Black Lives Matter movement.
This has seen many businesses put processes in place to address DE&I, yet it’s questionable as to whether this is just playing lip service to the problem, rather than making any meaningful change.
According to a 2021 study by Josh Bersin, when it comes to DE&I “roughly 80 per cent of companies are just going through the motions and not holding themselves accountable.”
Perfect route
A real commitment to diversity and inclusion means actively committing to looking beyond traditional hiring routes to find, engage and encourage new talent pools. Apprentices are the perfect way to enable this for many reasons.
Firstly, they are a strong alternative to traditional further education, offering the opportunity to study up to an accredited degree level allowing people from a wide range of backgrounds to realise their academic goals while bypassing debt.
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This makes them a powerful engine to help drive social mobility and create inclusive workplaces. They also help businesses proactively boost DE&I in areas such as neurodiversity, while supporting the creation of talent in areas where skills gaps are prevalent, including across digital and tech.
Hidden disabilities
While businesses have shown genuine commitment to race and gender equality, one area that remains overlooked is that of hidden disability.
This can include learning difficulties, mental health conditions, mobility, speech impairments, and sensory loss. Here again apprenticeships can help move the needle, as the conventional route through higher learning may hinder those with hidden disabilities from reaching their full potential.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, degree-level education has the greatest disparity between disabled and non-disabled people achieving a qualification.
Non-disabled degree awards stand at 16.2 percentage points higher than those for people with disabilities. Apprenticeships remove many of the barriers to degree-level education including the high cost and, for those with disabilities, unvaried approaches to teaching, and challenges in accessing extra support.
By contrast, apprenticeships are far better placed to offer a more bespoke programme tailored to the specific requirements of a diverse range of applicants.
Apprenticeships are far better placed to offer a more bespoke programme tailored to the specific requirements of a diverse range of applicants.”
They teach tangible working skills, like data analysis or software development, and cater for those with hidden disabilities who may well learn in ways that the traditional education system doesn’t accommodate.
These courses also ensure learners are ‘work-ready’ when starting a new job and can directly apply their training to projects and tasks. In fact, digital skills body FutureDotNow finds that almost 60% of adults said the easiest way for them to learn such skills would be through work.
Building a supportive culture
Increasing the number of apprentices with hidden disabilities also has significant benefits for the employer.
Instead of focusing on the challenges they face, companies should be looking at how this group could level up their business. Neurodiverse individuals can offer new perspectives, skills and unique talent that challenge the status quo of how tasks are completed and foster a more competitive edge.
They also help educate teams on the benefits of inclusivity and embracing different thinking through direct experience.
Moreover, creating a stable and attractive work environment for these apprentices is a strong proposition, especially to Gen Z and millennials.
Deloitte’s recent global Gen Z and millennial survey found that learning and development opportunities were a top priority when choosing an employer, and that those who are satisfied with their employer’s efforts to create a diverse and inclusive environment are more likely to want to stay with their employer for more than five years.
Higher retention means less churn, less resource required for training and recruitment and less reliance on hiring your way out of a skills shortage through ready-skilled talent. Additionally, this approach helps cultivate a positive company culture and maintaining morale.
More action needed
However, while we are starting to see employers recognise the importance of individuals with hidden disabilities to their talent strategy, we need to see more action.
Among the 14,767 people starting a QA digital and tech apprenticeship in 2021, just 173 declared a disability or learning need. That’s equivalent to only 1% of new starters, compared to the 18% of the working-age population currently living with a disability in the UK.
So, something needs to change. Apprenticeships are a key route into the workplace for those with hidden disabilities, but how can we do more to boost visibility to attract these people and make sure we’re acting on our intentions?
We’ve seen encouraging progress for identity (gender, sexuality, religion) and to some extent more ‘visible’ disabilities in the application process, but this doesn’t seem to extend to hidden disabilities such as autism, ADHD and dyslexia.
To correct this imbalance, businesses must be proactive in creating inclusive interview procedures, rather than having to make retrospective adjustments. Even simple steps such as removing ambiguous questions for autistic applicants can have a profound impact on interview performance and help remove unconscious bias.
Level playing field
Showing this kind of support from the outset helps create a level-playing field for disabled applicants and builds a strong foundation for both parties to get the most out of the process.
In our experience, the biggest barrier is often the lack of awareness or development of best practice to support apprentices with disabilities in the workplace. To push for change, businesses and professionals must create strategies to support learners of all abilities and help them excel in their chosen fields.
In today’s working society, just 53% of those with a disability are employed, compared to 82% of non-disabled people, according to disability charity Scope.
This untapped potential could be pivotal not only in closing the digital skills gap, but also in achieving social mobility goals.
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Companies looking to succeed in these areas should revaluate their existing DE&I strategies and apprenticeship initiatives to understand how they can better champion disability in their business and reap the rewards that diverse apprentice recruitment can bring to their business.
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