Recruitment and retention plan for disabled people: 2019

3. Methodology

Focus

This Disability Action Plan is initially for employees in the core Scottish Government and includes every Directorate. As we develop good practice and learning from implementing this Plan we will engage across the wider Scottish Government organisations (for example, Agencies) with a view to rolling out the approach more widely.

Developing the Disability Action Plan – Our approach

The Plan was developed in partnership with the Council of Scottish Government Unions and with the engagement and with the involvement of disabled people across 24 workshops. This includes our staff Disability Network, Mental Health and Wellbeing Network and ME – Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Network, as well as external Disabled People’s Organisations.

This collaborative approach will be continued in the delivery of the Plan. 

We also examined our analysis of data from the Scottish Government People Survey and from our HR database to add to our engagement findings. From this analytical work we know that disabled people are more likely than non-disabled people to tell us they have experienced bullying or harassment at work. Also, lower numbers of people than might reasonably be predicted share personal information to describe themselves as disabled. Nearly 4 in 10 employees have provided no information at all about their disability status. 

From this analysis and the feedback we received, we have identified four clear outcomes for this Plan. These deliver on the commitment to set a target for numbers of disabled people being externally recruited into the Scottish Government. They also recognise that success requires adaptation and improvement across a number of corporate processes, practices, behaviours and culture that all interact. In other words a “whole-system” approach is required.