Research report on disability from Sodexo

In celebration of International Day of People with Disabilities on 3 December 2020, Sodexo has published a report of the findings of a survey into the lived experience of employees and customers with disabilities.

Sodexo is a committed to disability inclusion, having made a global commitment to provide 100% of its workforce with access to programmes for people with disabilities by 2025. They achieved Leader status in the UK Government’s Disability Confident scheme in 2018, affirming its commitment to recruit and retain people with disabilities and long-term conditions. Sodexo is working with Project SEARCH and senior managers have spoken at a couple of recent BASE conferences.

The report, ‘A day without explanation: the future of disability inclusion?’, is the result of a survey carried out by Sodexo and PurpleSpace, the professional network hub for disabled employees.

Nearly 900 people from the PurpleSpace network, partner organisations, Sodexo and its external communities responded to the survey, which aimed to help Sodexo understand how to better support employees and customers with disabilities.

The results showed that 79% of respondents believe that people with disabilities find it much harder to build and nurture inner confidence and resilience, which may impact their ability to progress at work.

The report highlights the crucial first port of call role that line managers play, with 75% of respondents with a disability had informed their line manager. However, many believed that their employer doesn’t do well in sharing information about role models; only 15% have heard about people with disabilities in senior or managerial positions in their organisation.