Employee passport: equality impact assessment

Stage 2: Data and evidence gathering, involvement and consultation

Include here the results of your evidence gathering (including framing exercise), including qualitative and quantitative data and the source of that information, whether national statistics, surveys or consultations with relevant equality groups.

Age^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

Age is relevant to this EQIA because people at any age can require a workplace adjustment, and some age groups are more likely to require an adjustment or have a condition that can affect their recruitment, retention and progression.

There has been a lot of feedback from existing staff that they wished they had had the passport in place when they started in Scottish Government. The Employee passport will be added to the induction pack for all new starts. This will be a significant aid in the retention of younger members of staff.

The experience of the review of Workplace adjustments was that younger new starts are more likely to be aware of their health condition/neuro-diverse condition whereas older colleagues are more likely to have conditions associated with the aging process such as gradual hearing loss. Young new starts are also more likely to have received support during school and/or university and there is an expectation of a similar level of support in Scottish Government. When support is not there it feels like a hammer blow.

Scottish Government has two programmes specifically aimed at encouraging young people into the workplace: the Modern Apprenticeship (MAP) and Graduate Development (GDP) programmes. The Workplace Adjustments team now work with both programmes. The GDP has recently had a high level of recruits with a stated disability. The 2021 GDP intake were asked to take part in the pilot of the passport and most of them did. They considered the passport to be beneficial to them because they changed job/line managers a number of times during the programme and it would help to avoid having to "retell their story".

The distribution table below shows that the Scottish Government has an age imbalance and that more young people are needed.

SG Distribution of age group – trend – June 2020

	16-29	30-39	40-49	50-54	55-59	60+
June 2018	15%	25%	27%	16%	11%	6%
June 2019	17%	25%	27%	14%	11%	6%
September 2019	17%	25%	27%	14%	11%	6%
December 2019	17%	25%	27%	14%	11%	6%
March 2020	18%	25%	27%	14%	11%	6%
June 2020	17%	25%	27%	14%	11%	6%

Source

Source: Annual Participation Measure for 16 – 19 year olds in Scotland 2019 (Published: August 2019, Skills Development Scotland (SDS))

Source: The review of the Scottish Government workplace adjustments service in 2020/21

Source: The trial of the Employee Passport in Nov/Dec 2021

Data gaps identified and action taken

-

Disability^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

This passport came about because the Scottish Government recognises that we need to improve the experiences of our existing and potential staff with disabilities. We have drawn on specific research to explore those experiences for this passport.

• in 2018, the employment rate for disabled people in Scotland (aged 16-64) was 45.6%, which compares with an employment rate of 81.1% for non-disabled people.
• the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people decreased to 35.5 percentage points from 35.9 percentage points in 2017.
• the unemployment rate for disabled people (aged 16-64) in Scotland was 9.4% in 2018, compared with an unemployment rate of 3.6% for non-disabled people.
• in 2018, almost half of disabled people (16-64 years) in Scotland were economically inactive (49.7%), compared with 15.9% of non-disabled people.
• 26.3% of economically inactive disabled people wanted to work, higher than 16.9% of economically inactive non-disabled people.

Disabled staff increasingly comprise more of the Scottish Government's workforce

In 2020, statistics on the Scottish Government workforce showed that:

• 8% have declared at least one disability
• 48.9% were non-disabled
• For 43.6% it's not known whether they had a disability

Between 2013 and 2020:

• Disabled people increasingly comprise more of the organisation's workforce: increasing from 4.0% to 7.6%
• Declaration rates have increased from 61.2% to 66%
• We also have a disability internship scheme run in partnership with Inclusion Scotland.

This passport aims to increase the number of disabled people in the Scottish Government and better retain them by putting adjustments in place on day one of their posts and mainstreaming adjustment needs.

SG Core permanent & FTA staff

• Storm ID were commissioned to produce a report in 2018 with the following objective: through the successful evaluation of current services, and the discovery of evidenced user insights; ensure that Scottish Government has the knowledge it needs to empower disabled employees, removing unnecessary barriers to their recruitment, retention and progression whether they have declared a need or not - while achieving organisational objectives and fulfilling its legal obligations.
• A total of 76 participants were involved in this research. We had 28 screener survey respondents. Among them, 26 participants attended both interviews and workshops.
• We had 35 SG-wide survey respondents, among whom two of them volunteered to attend workshops and the rest of them were anonymous.
• A total of 30 participants were interviewed and a total of 22 participants attended the workshops. Of them, 11 participants participated in both interviews and workshops.
• By and large, people have had negative experiences of having dealt with the reasonable adjustments process within SG. Below is the number of participants categorised with the different types of experiences:
  • Negative experience – 20 participants
  • Positive experience – 12 participants
  • Mixed experience – 8 participants
  • Neutral experience – 7 participants

Note: This data was not captured for 29 participants, as they did not take the screener survey nor the SG-wide survey.

• A total of 19 participants self-identified as having the following types of impairments. Note that this research involved approximately 10% of the self-declared disabled staff (SG Core permanent and FTA).
• While the participants were asked about the following conditions, the numbers cannot be disclosed for data protection reasons:
  • Physical impairment - one or more physical impairments such as Psoriatic Arthritis, Hyper Mobility, Dyspraxia, Visual impairment, Osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia. One other participant had both physical and cognitive impairments. Physical and neurological impairments.
  • Cognitive impairment, Dyslexia or Heightened Sensory issues or both cognitive and neurological impairments.
  • Neurological impairment, Neurological dizziness, Multiple Sclerosis or a Neurological condition.
  • Mental impairment, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety or Asperger's Syndrome or both cognitive and neurological conditions.
  • Cognitive and physical conditions.
  • Neurological and physical conditions.

1. Benchmarking

The evaluation framework in the benchmarking section of the report sets out five levels which an organisation should attain if it is to have a robust system for workplace adjustments. These are (1) complying, (2) promoting, (3) enabling, (4) learning and (5) leading. Four of these apply to the passport:

Level 2, promoting, applies to the employee passport. This requires:

• Visible indication that the organisation thinks that this is an important issue.
• Publication of a meaningful (detailed and tailored) strategy
• Visible senior stakeholder support – a named person who actively supports the strategy (for example, blog posts, internal staff networks, speaking at conferences)
• Active membership of schemes or organisations (such as Disability Confident and Business Disability Forum), and the active support of internal disability networks

The passport will be a "visible indication that the organisation thinks this is an important issue". Scottish Government will be the first organisation in Scotland to have an employee passport. It will promote it and gradually mainstream workplace adjustments. The passport will make all staff aware of workplace adjustments not just staff who have required workplace adjustments in the past. The increased awareness will both increase uptake and consequently help to remove any sense of unfairness as everyone will have access to them. It will also hopefully gradually move to a model of prevention being better than cure.

A communications and engagement strategy was undertaken during the pilot of the passport. The strategy ensured that the passport was a co-production, had widespread support and buy-in and was welcomed and known about when it was rolled out. The passport has/had significant support from senior colleagues within the People Directorate and beyond.

The Workplace Adjustments team are active members in a number of forums and networks. The team has already begun to present the passport at these networks. This will establish Scottish Government as a leader in workplace adjustments.

Level 3, enabling, applies to the employee passport. This requires:

• Publication of meaningful (detailed) guidance around reasonable adjustments that is available to staff and managers
• Development of proper processes that are visible to staff and managers

The passport is a tangible/visible tool made available to staff and managers. The guidance supporting the use of the passport provides a direct link to links to the new workplace adjustments service. The passport and the new service will help each other

Level 4, learning, applies to the employee passport. This requires an organisation to:

• Capture data around reasonable adjustments
• Evaluate that data
• Publicly report the data
• Use this data to improve the process

The passport is the main tool for capturing data for workplace adjustments. At present Scottish Government has very little data on workplace adjustments and uptake. The passport will generate a wealth of data as all users are asked to share Part II of the passport with HR.

Level 5, leading, applies to the employee passport. This requires an organisation to:

• Evolve from being inward looking to seeking opportunities to help others.
• Share best practice: experiences, processes and plans
• Mentor others: working alongside others to help them develop their approach
• Collaborate: working with others to address new challenges

The passport will be a first in Scotland. It is attracting a lot of attention and a lot of suitors just as the workplace adjustments process has. The passport is a tangible way to attract organisations to adopt SG good practice in workplace adjustments, to allow SG to mentor others and to collaborate as new challenges arise. The WAS team have already collaborated with Social Security Scotland, the Workplace Adjustments Network, the Business Disability Forum, and the Public Services Partnership. The passport is improving and expanding these links.

2. Pain Points

The section entitled Pain Points sets out the experience of SG staff who have requested reasonable adjustments. It dissects the experience into a number of issues. The passport covers a number of these pain points. These include:

• Values and Culture – the SG is taking steps to improve its processes and approach to workplace adjustments. The employee passport is the next natural step in that process. There is/was a fear of being victimised for asking for a workplace adjustment, the passport will mainstream workplace adjustments.
• Language – the passport will establish/mainstream the term "workplace adjustments" and move away once and for all from "reasonable adjustments". This will represent a sea change in language leading to a different approach. Managers will not be inclined to question the "reasonableness" of an adjustment and instead consider them a workplace adjustment. This will reinforce and strengthen the new social model of disability approach
• Awareness – there is/was an issue that many people do not recognise the term "workplace adjustment". This leads/led to people searching for "reasonable adjustments guidance on Saltire, for example. The passport will mainstream the term "workplace adjustment". There is also a lack of awareness of a line manager's (and organisation's) responsibilities to make reasonable adjustments. The passport will clarify this.
• Continuous improvement – this is alluded to in level 4, learning, of the evaluation framework. There is currently no data to improve the service. Each workplace adjustment is implemented anew. There is currently very little data on numbers of staff and uptake of particular workplace adjustments, and no corporate memory as to what was requested and/or what was approved. The passport will generate a wealth of data.

3. As is User Journey – Pre-Employment

Although the passport by its very nature will be used by existing staff, a number of barriers and opportunities in the interview process are highlighted in the pre-employment phase – but these equally apply to existing staff applying for a new post and/or promotion. The barriers and opportunities, which are relevant to the passport, are set out below;

Barriers:

• Sometimes, negative responses are given to the applicant for requesting adjustments
• Line managers are not up-to-date especially with mental health impairments
• Some staff who deliver the service don't know what the process is between the Occupational Health team and People Advice and Wellbeing team
• Unable to consistently provide workplace adjustments for all those who need them for interviews
• Not always communicating with the end user about the interview environment and access details of the building prior to the interview, leaves the end users unable to say what adjustments they may require
• Sometimes, the adjustments provided do not work for the end user. This stems from the lack of keeping the end user in the loop and not consulting them while the key decisions are being made

Opportunities:

• Design a seamless process that works for everyone
• Information shared about one's impairment and adjustments should be carried through to employment
• Inform the end user about disclosing an impairment and the boundaries within which they can get adjustments. Give examples.
• Provide actionable and meaningful guidance to the end user
• Consult with the end user during key decisions
• Quality assure the adjustments process to ensure requested adjustments are put into place

4. As is User Journey – In Employment

The user journey sets out six stages of the workplace adjustments process. An employee passport is recommended as part of the recommendations of the analysis. Two quotes illustrate the advantage of an employee passport:

"If an individual moves to a new team, there's no process in place to pass the reasonable adjustments info from the previous line manager to the new line manager"

"Workplace Adjustment Passport stops users from having to go over reasonable adjustments all over again"

5. Spaces for Change and the Ideal User Journey

In the concluding part of the research, a number of ideas are put forward directly linked to the employee passport and all of these were explored during the pilot.

• Saltire for tailored step-by-step guidance. Workplace adjustments passport to record – guidance now available on Saltire
• Individuals should be responsible for their workplace passports – ownership is critical. Passport users own their passports and the information in it.
• Workplace adjustments passport to record an individual's impairment and adjustments data – the passport does this

The "Ideal User Journey" recommends that updates are recorded on a workplace adjustments passport and sets out expectations and opportunities

Expectations:

• Individuals update their records about their impairment and adjustments as and when things change. This would make changes manageable and enable having a seamless process
• Individuals can choose to share information about their impairment and adjustments with their line managers or anyone else as needed

Opportunities:

• Design a workplace adjustments passport and system for an individual to be able to access through their account

The employee passport is held by the user and they can make changes to it whenever they want. They own the passport. Their line manager cannot share it with anyone without their prior consent.

SG Distribution of disability status – trend

The passport will lead to an increase in the numbers of people who declare a disability. The table below shows that this is an issue. Again, it will improve management information on disabilities and enable a much better workplace adjustments service.

	Disabled	Not disabled	Prefer not to say	Unknown
June 2018	7%	54%	1%	38%
June 2019	8%	54%	1%	37%
September 2019	8%	55%	1%	35%
December 2019	8%	56%	1%	34%
March 2020	8%	56%	2%	34%
June 2020	8%	56%	2%	34%

Source

Source: Disabled people in the labour market in Scotland 2018 (Published: February 2020)

Source: Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report 2019 (Last updated: April 2019)

CAST Diversity Pack June 2020

Source: Storm ID Report December 2018

Source: SG CAST July 2019

Source: The review of the Scottish Government workplace adjustments service in 2020/21

Source: The trial of the Employee Passport in Nov/Dec 2021

Data gaps identified and action taken

The Workplace Adjustments Discovery project is the basis for both the Workplace Adjustments project and the employee passport.

We are members of the Business Disability Forum and UK wide government Workplace Adjustments Network as well as the Public Sector Partnership and will continue to refer to learning from them.

Non-disclosure rates are high. Work by D&I team to increase confidence in completing diversity information. Specific work during induction to encourage new employees to complete diversity information as part of induction.

Sex^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

In 2018, the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people was wider for men (40.0 percentage points compared with 31.1 percentage points for women).

The SG workforce is made up of 54% women and 46% men. There are more women with disabilities (15%) than men (12%).

SG Distribution of gender within pay band - June 2020

	Female	Male
Band A	60%	40%
Band B	54%	46%
Band C	56%	44%
Not Assim	11%	89%
SCS	43%	57%

The experience of the review of workplace adjustments and the trial of the passport highlighted a number of benefits of the passport in relation to sex. The workplace adjustments team gave a presentation to the Women's Development Network and this led to a number of people taking up the passport. There are issues which are particular to women such as menopause, fertility treatment which are extremely difficult to "bring to work". The passport enables these conversations.

The same applies to men. There are a large number of men with mental health problems who need a trigger or structure to enable them to open up about it. The passport does this.

Source

Source: Scottish Government People Survey Gender pack (2019)

Source: SG Equality Mainstream Report 2019

Source: The review of the Scottish Government workplace adjustments service in 2020/21

Source: The trial of the Employee Passport in Nov/Dec 2021

Data gaps identified and action taken

-

Pregnancy and Maternity^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

The experience of the pilot of the passport and the review of workplace adjustments was that pregnant women may need a workplace adjustment to enable them to continue to work throughout their pregnancy.

Women returning from maternity leave are likely to experience changes to their role due to the passage of time This could be a change of line manager or location or organisational set-up. In all of these cases and more, a passport would help the return to work.

A higher percentage of women report having childcare responsibilities at A3, A4, B1, and C1 grades.

A higher percentage of men report having childcare responsibilities at B2, B3, SCS and other grades.

The largest group of men with childcare responsibilities was at B3 band (190)

The largest group of women with childcare responsibilities was at C1 (220)

Source

Source: SG 2017 People Survey Gender

Source: The review of the Scottish Government workplace adjustments service in 2020/21

Source: The trial of the Employee Passport in Nov/Dec 2021

Data gaps identified and action taken

-

Gender Reassignment^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

Statistics for trans people in Scottish Government are suppressed due to very low returns. This gap in evidence/data is one of the issues the passport will attempt to resolve.

The Scottish Transgender Alliance observes that the workplace is one of the most likely locations for transphobic discrimination and harassment to occur, and as a result many Transgender people are unemployed, under-employed or self-employed - Morton (2008) found that 19.7% of the respondents to his survey in Scotland were self-employed, although no comparison should be made from this sample to a national average.

The SG will develop training and further guidance to accompany our refreshed Trans Equality and Inclusion Policy, to contribute to building a supportive environment for trans colleagues. We will develop further guidance for trans employees and their colleagues to support the refreshed policy.

It is important to note the severe limitations on Transgender data. The EHRC Transgender Research Review presents a wealth of methodological material concerning definitions, research and data on Transgender people. It observes that, although there is a considerable amount of literature produced for campaigning or lobbying purposes, commentary on the legal position of Transgender people and anecdotal discussion of experiences, there is only a small number of robust studies. Where primary research has been conducted, difficulties associated with identifying Transgender people mean that samples were often too small to make robust generalisations from the data, or that reliance on convenience sampling meant that it was not possible to be sure that the studies had mapped sufficient diversity within the Transgender community to draw substantive conclusions. The Review specifically points out the methodological difficulties of conducting international comparative research, due to broad variations in administration, finance and ethics in different countries, in addition to the small amounts of Transgender research being undertaken in any country.

Source

Source: Scottish Government Equality Outcomes: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Evidence Review Scottish Government Social Research 2013

Source: SG LGBT Evidence Review 30 April 2013

Source: Equality and Mainstream Report 2019

Source: Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People Analysis of the 2017 survey for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people.

Data gaps identified and action taken

-

Sexual Orientation^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

In 2018, people who identified as 'LGB and other' were twice as likely to be unemployed compared to those who identified as 'heterosexual' (4.0 percent versus 2.0 per cent). It is important to note that a higher proportion of those identifying as 'LGB and other' were in the age groups 16-24 and 25-34, which were also the age groups where unemployment was higher.

Declaration rates have increased since SG began gathering data in 2015

In 2018 the Scottish Government workforce was made up of:

• 3.6% identified as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or an Other minority sexual orientation
• 62.3% identified as Heterosexual or straight
• The sexual orientation is not known for 34.1% of staff.

Between 2015 and 2018:

• LGBO people increasingly comprise more of the organisations workforce: increasing from 1.9% to 3.6%
• Declaration rates have increased from 49.8% to 69.7%

SG Distribution of sexual orientation – trend

	LGBO	Heterosexual/ straight	Prefer not to say	Unknown
June 2018	3%	63%	4%	29%
June 2019	4%	66%	4%	25%
September 2019	4%	67%	4%	24%
December 2019	4%	67%	4%	24%
March 2020	5%	66%	4%	25%
June 2020	5%	66%	4%	25%

The passport will facilitate conversations about LGBT issues and also help to increase declaration rates.

Source

Source: Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2018 (Last updated: October 2019)

Source: E&HRC

Source: Is Scotland Fairer Report 2018

Source: Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report 2019 (Last updated: April 2019)

Source: The trial of the Employee Passport in Nov/Dec 2021

Data gaps identified and action taken

The LGBT staff network were not convinced the passport was relevant to them. More engagement is needed.

Of the Part 2s of the passport that were submitted during the trial, none related to LGBT issues. However, the trial demonstrated that the passport has universal application.

Race^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

Minority Ethnic staff increasingly comprise more of the Scottish Government's workforce

In 2018 the Scottish Government workforce was made up of:

• 2.1% were minority ethnic
• 80.0% were white
• The ethnic group is not known for 18.0% of staff.

Between 2013 and 2018:

• Minority ethnic people increasingly comprise more of the organisations workforce: increasing from 1.6% to 2.1%
• Declaration rates have increased from 78.7% to 83.8%

The SG intends to take every opportunity to improve and increase the diversity of our workforce, including increasing the proportion of Black and Minority Ethnic employees from the current 2.4% to one that better represents the people of Scotland.

Scottish Government has implemented a Race Recruitment and Retention Plan which has at its heart an explicitly anti-racist approach. The plan sets out action to improve the representation of ethnic minority staff at all grades and levels of the organisation. The workplace adjustments team are working together with colleagues who are managing this plan to ensure that both work-streams are aligned and any common issues identified.

The passport will facilitate conversations about race issues and also help to increase declaration rates.

Table: Distribution of ethnic group – trend

	Ethnic minority	White	Prefer not to say	Unknown
June 2018	2%	83%	2%	13%
June 2019	2%	83%	2%	13%
September 2019	2%	83%	2%	13%
December 2019	2%	82%	2%	13%
March 2020	2%	81%	2%	14%
June 2020	2%	81%	2%	15%

Source

Source: Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report 2019 (Last updated: April 2019)

Source: Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report 2019 (Last updated: April 2019)

Source: The trial of the Employee Passport in Nov/Dec 2021

Data gaps identified and action taken

The REN staff network were not convinced the passport was relevant to them. More engagement needed here.

Of the Part 2s of the passport that were submitted during the trial, none related to race issues. However, the trial demonstrated that the passport has universal application.

Religion or Belief^[2]

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

The experience of the review of workplace adjustments highlighted a number of issues with prayer and contemplation spaces. Muslim colleagues, for example, needed a space for prayer during Ramadan.

The passport allows staff to talk about any circumstances impacting on them at work and we are aware that this has enabled conversations about religion albeit in a small number of cases to date.

The passport will also increase the disclosure of religious beliefs. The table below shows that this is a currently an issue.

Table: Distribution of religion or belief – trend

	Christian	Other Religion	No Religion	Prefer not to say	Unknown
June 2018	27%	2%	38%	4%	30%
June 2019	27%	2%	41%	5%	26%
September 2019	27%	2%	42%	5%	25%
December 2019	27%	2%	42%	5%	24%
March 2020	26%	2%	42%	5%	25%
June 2020	26%	2%	42%	4%	25%

Source

Source: Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report 2019 (Last updated: April 2019)

Source: The review of the Scottish Government workplace adjustments service in 2020/21

Source: The trial of the Employee Passport in Nov/Dec 2021

Data gaps identified and action taken

-