Vodafone uses the Disability Confident Scheme to become an employer of choice

Vodafone UK wanted to understand and highlight the contribution and talent that people with disabilities bring to their workplace in order to:

• Attract, recruit and promote people with disabilities.
• Ensure that accessibility is at the forefront of decision making across the business.
• Allow all disabled employees to feel supported by their colleagues, encouraging open conversations around accessibility and flexibility and providing support where needed.

Vodafone UK used the Disability Confident Scheme to support and attract disabled colleagues

Vodafone UK are always looking for ways to make their workplace inclusive for  everyone, including valuable talent with disabilities. By progressing to Disability Confident level 2, they were able to build on this work and implement a gold standard framework to drive inclusivity in their workplace.

It took 18 months to undertake an in-depth gap analysis to identify areas of growth. Following this, they rolled out a Reasonable Adjustments Process and submitted a self-assessment for Disability Confident Level 2.

To do this collaboratively across the business, a team of Special Points of Contact (SPOCs) from key teams was assembled to support in building the crucial process, which spanned across attraction, recruitment, hiring and the internal employee lifecycle. It facilitated the necessary adjustments needed to existing processes needed and introduced new ways of working to support applicants, candidates and employees in fostering a culture of inclusion and helping those with disabilities thrive in their careers.

Committing the time and resource, to see the results

Teams at Vodafone UK invested a significant amount of time and resource to ensure the project was a success, and that they had tangible and ambitious steps to take to unlock the benefits of having a diverse and inclusive work force. In doing so, Vodafone UK identified three key areas that were critical to its success:

1. Understanding a large organisation and its existing processes. Conducting a detailed gap analysis allowed teams to understand how each area of the business worked. Based off of this, teams were able to advise on areas of improvements, gaps in processes that could be fixed, ways to utilise what was working well already, and connect processes to gain a full overview of how to proceed.
2. Bringing together multiple stakeholders to support the implementation of Reasonable Adjustments and the process rollout.
3. Identifying areas of ownership and accountability.

Investing in inclusion is making Vodafone UK a better place to work

Having a working environment that is accessible for all is key to Vodafone UK. Since working with the Disability Confidence scheme, the business has been able to hear from their employees, receiving really positive feedback from employees with disabilities, and enjoy increased collaboration across teams and departments in supporting employees with disabilities. This overall, has grown awareness around disability and accessibility within the workplace.

Moving forward, the business will be measuring the progress and impact of the Reasonable Adjustment Process and the work undertaken to complete the Disability Confident submission closely so they can continue to champion diversity and inclusion.

In removing barriers and gaining a better understanding of how to help employees become more disability and accessibility educated, teams will be able to create an environment that promotes inclusion and diversity for all employees.

Vodafone UK expects to see higher engagement, productivity, and an increased sense of belonging amongst its employees, and to be front of mind for talented new candidates, so that everyone can enjoy a thriving career.