Workplace adjustments: onboarding process - 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.

Characteristic^[4]

AGE

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 likelihood of finding employment. While this EQIA will not impact on employment as such, the onboarding process should ensure that requesting an adjustment does not impact negatively on a new employee's experience of the Scottish Government and if detrimental, may affect their longer term health and employment outcomes.

Young people are more likely to be unemployed, and this figure is higher if they have a disability. Disabled people aged 16 to 24 had the lowest employment rate at 35.8%. Non-disabled people aged 16 to 24 also had the lowest employment rate at 60.8% but this was still higher than the employment rate for any disabled age groups.

Disabled people aged 35 to 49 had the highest employment rate at 52.7% but lower than 91.0% of non-disabled people in the same age group.

• In 2018/19, the participation rate for young people (aged 16-19) who identified as disabled was 87.0% compared to 91.8% for those who did not identify as disabled.
• The participation rate has increased over the past four years for young people (aged 16-19) who identified as disabled.

SG has two programmes specifically aimed at encouraging young people into the workplace: the Modern Apprenticeship (MAP) and Graduate Development (GDP) programmes. The GDP put specific support into place for its disabled interns and provided a one to one full time service which has provided learning for this project.

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

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

Data gaps identified and action taken

We will seek views on the experiences of new employees with health conditions in different age groups through networks, trade unions and other forms of engagement as well as drawing on performance data throughout the project and information provided by central analytical services team (CAST).

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

Characteristic^[4]

DISABILITY

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

This project 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 project.

• 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 the Scottish Government workforce was made up of:

• 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 project aims to increase the number of disabled people in the Scottish Government and better retain them as members of staff by meeting their adjustment needs when we employ people. The main source of evidence for this impact assessment is the Storm ID report sections about the onboarding process.

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, Dispraxia, Visual impairment, Osteo Arthritis and Fybromyalgia. 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.

The onboarding process is described in the previous section. User experience is described as follows:

Step 1: Discuss adjustments for job offer (start of onboarding)

• If an job offer is made and a candidate accepts it, they're generally not kept in the communication loop about decisions on adjustments. They're left unsure about whether the adjustments will be ready by the first day of job.
• HR can't initiate the process to deliver adjustments until a job offer is accepted, then the Pay has to be setup, followed by Scots account needing to be setup. It's only after these steps that HR can get in touch with Optima who provide Occupational Health Service.
• A person from Optima then gets in touch with the candidate and arranges an assessment (either on phone or in-person). They then generate a report and recommendations for what adjustments need to be given. HR stays in the loop during this time.
• Optima's recommendations are not often seen as being useful because those recommendations don't quite fit into SG's framework around IT and security. Some recommendations are changed by the teams within SG to deliver within the framework of possibilities. This doesn't always result in the adjustments working well for the end users.
• Depending on what the recommendations are, they go to:
  • o Occupational Health and Safety Branch – to deliver hardware
  • o ITECS – to deliver software
  • o Anybody else responsible for delivering adjustments to the space – seating, lighting etc. for a team. There isn't a definite 'go to' person for this.
• Barriers
• Not being in the loop of communication about the workplace adjustments they require
• The links are broken between HR, Occupational Health survey data and line manager.
• eHR system (internal HR system) limits only 80 people per month to be processed for payroll. This has been causing a backlog of people waiting and delay in people getting adjustments ready by the time they start work.
• "The recruitment process asks for reasonable adjustments, only for the interview. They need to change it to 'for employment' considerations."
  P16, Line manager and staff who delivers adjustments

Step 2: start job

Organisational process

• The first day of job can occur any time after the Payroll gets setup. There is no consistency and assurance that adjustments will be put into place by start date of the job. The end user who needs adjustments needs to be persistent and chase up a lot in many cases even after starting employment.

Barriers

• Not comfortable talking about their impairment with line manager
• Negative experience of getting workplace adjustments with previous employer
• The information on impairment shared on the form at application stage is not always being taken on board into employment phase
• No awareness of the term 'Reasonable adjustments'
• No useful information on workplace adjustments on Saltire
• Don't know who to contact to discuss their impairment and adjustments
• A few of them don't have a line manager and they don't know who to go to
• Don't know the process to go about for requesting workplace adjustments
• Can't bring their own hardware or equipment into SG for work, even if they already have it and know it works well for them
• Not always kept in the loop, so they don't know what's happening with their request for adjustments
• Waiting times are too long and it affects their performance (affects confidence and ability)
• Having to talk to too many people in the process of getting adjustments makes them feel vulnerable
• Having to go through a new assessment

Opportunities

• Create awareness about impairments and adjustments
• Design a meaningful and actionable step-by-step guidance on Saltire
• Have a specialist team responsible for delivering adjustments. They would be the 'go to' contacts for adjustments.

Quotes

"When I arrived at the first day of my job, I was surprised adjustments were not already in place. I was given a temporary fix (not ideal) until all the adjustments arrived 6 weeks later. It was frustrating and very stressful. It was difficult to do my work."
P19, End user, Fair Work

"I think the People Advice and Wellbeing team is responsible for ensuring that new recruits have their necessary RAs in place by their start date. We don't know how many of new recruits on an average need RAs in place by their start date."
P21, Line manager and staff who deliver adjustments

Outcomes

• The end result is a hit or a miss. There are inconsistencies and there are breakdowns between stages and different individuals or teams involved.
• Many end users have been disappointed because of adjustments not put into place for interviews or because they didn't work well for them. For many of those interview candidates who need adjustments and proceed into employment, adjustments were not put into place until 4-6 weeks after starting the job. During this time, they were unable to perform their work well and it brought down their confidence and productivity, resulting in a negative experience.

COVID 19 - WORKING FROM HOME: IMPACTS

The Scottish Government's internal statistics show that 66%^[5] of staff have shared information about their disability status. Key issues for People Directorate during the initial Covid-19 period have been around the need for workplace adjustments to translate into the home environment and the increased demand for support for mental health and wellbeing.

Workplace adjustments

There have been concerns around the provision of workplace adjustments at home, and issues around the accessibility of online platforms and virtual ways of working. A UK Government report highlights that whilst workplace adjustments are a high priority and efforts have been positively recognised, some disabled staff do not feel that there has been sufficient rapid support given the scale of the challenge. The paper also highlights that some disabled staff may be anxious if they need to provide pre-payment for equipment ahead of claiming this back.

Benefits noticed

Structural and cultural benefits are being noticed for disabled colleagues in the growing normalisation of the provision of working from home, and improvements in providing workplace adjustments and equipment to colleagues during this period. The slower pace of life and less sensory activity can particularly benefit those with neurodiversity.

According to the UKG's report the experiences of disabled staff shows there are real opportunities for increasing the sense of belonging and community. Practices being put in place to support teams working remotely (such as daily check ins), can mean that individuals who usually feel quite isolated from their teams are suddenly feeling more included. Those who have been used to working in the office are reporting an increased sense of empathy and understanding and a desire to capture and learn from this over the longer term.

Support for mental health and wellbeing

There has been a high level of attention to and support for mental health and wellbeing across the Civil Service. This has included regular communication of additional support by HR teams. This is generally welcomed by staff, although the UKG's report flags up that staff can feel overwhelmed at the amount of material and guidance emerging and there is a desire for clear, simple pathways for individuals. There is recognition too that where Mental Health First Aiders are experiencing high demand support should be put in place for their own mental health.

Longer term concerns

The UKG report mentions the secondary impacts of the response to the pandemic that will become increasingly evident over time. These include labour market contractions, challenges in access to healthcare, difficulties in access to support and services during the crisis by disabled colleagues. This could affect entry for disabled people into the Civil Service with issues for existing disabled staff around morale and wellbeing, and retention and career development.

SG Distribution of disability status – trend

	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 June 2018

Source: SG CAST July 2019

Data gaps identified and action taken

The project is based on evidence from staff with disabilities.

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

We are members of the Business Disability Forum and UK wide government workplace adjustments forum 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.

Characteristic^[4]

SEX

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 58% 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%

Source

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

Source: Scottish Government People Survey Gender pack (2019)

Source: SG Equality Mainstream Report 2019

Data gaps identified and action taken

We will seek views on the experiences of new employees through networks, trade unions and other forms of engagement as well as drawing information provided by central analytical services team (CAST).

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

Characteristic^[4]

PREGNANCY AND MATERNITY

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

Evidence gap –pregnant women joining the organisation may have a disability or health condition requiring an adjustment.

• 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)

The SG will undertake research to understand the experiences of women returning to work after maternity leave, however this is not relevant to onboarding which only applies to new employees.

Source

Source: SG 2017 People Survey Gender

Source: SG Equality and Mainstream Report 2019

Data gaps identified and action taken

Pregnant women joining the organisation may have a need for workplace adjustments, because of a disability or health condition. We will explore with H&S colleagues how to identify these. Pregnant women with disabilities will be identified through the project and we will consider how to meet any adjustments relating to pregnancy.

We will seek views on the experiences of pregnant new employees with health conditions through networks, trade unions and other forms of engagement

continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

Characteristic^[4]

GENDER REASSIGNMENT

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

Statistics for trans people in Scottish Government are suppressed due to very low returns. This has identified a gap.

The Scottish Transgender Alliance^[66] 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)^[67] 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.

Health disparities at the intersection of disability and gender identity literature review

Source

Source: SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT EQUALITY OUTCOMES: LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) EVIDENCE REVIEW Scottish Government Social Research 2013

Source: SG LGBGT 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

Specific work during induction to encourage new employees to complete diversity information as part of induction will be enabled (separate workstream).

Work by D&I team is planned to increase confidence in completing diversity information.

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

Characteristic^[4]

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

LGB and other were twice as likely to be unemployed compared to those who identified as 'heterosexual'

• 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 we 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%

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)

Data gaps identified and action taken

We will seek views on the experiences of LGBO new employees with health conditions through networks, trade unions and other forms of engagement as well as drawing on performance data throughout the project and information provided by central analytical services team (CAST).

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

Characteristic^[4]

RACE

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%

Disabled people who are in a minority ethnic group have an employment rate of 37.9%, lower than non-disabled minority ethnic people (57.8%).

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 is committed to implementing a Race Recruitment and Retention Plan which will have at its heart an explicitly anti-racist approach. The plan will also set out action to improve the representation of ethnic minority staff at all grades and levels of the organisation. We will work together with colleagues developing this plan to ensure that both work-streams are aligned and any common issues identified.

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

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

Data gaps identified and action taken

We will seek views on the experiences of new minority ethnic employees with health conditions through networks, trade unions and other forms of engagement as well as drawing on performance data throughout the project and information provided by central analytical services team (CAST).

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

Characteristic^[4]

RELIGION OR BELIEF

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

We are not aware of any relevant existing evidence at this time on religion or belief in relation to the policy.

People belonging to a faith group with a disability may also need prayer or contemplation spaces.

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)

Data gaps identified and action taken

We will seek views on the experiences of new employees with health conditions of different faith groups through networks, trade unions and other forms of engagement as well as drawing on performance data throughout the project and information provided by central analytical services team (CAST).

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.

Characteristic^[4]

MARRIAGE AND CIVIL PARTNERSHIP

Evidence gathered and Strength/quality of evidence

This work does relate to HR policy and practice, although we are not aware of any relevant existing evidence at this time on marriage or civil partnership in relation to the policy.

Data gaps identified and action taken

We will seek views on the experiences of new employees with health conditions of different genders groups through networks, trade unions and other forms of engagement as well as drawing on performance data throughout the project and information provided by central analytical services team (CAST).

We will continue to improve the evidence base for this project and seek continuous feedback from users.