Why aren’t adjustment passports working?
By Jo Faragher on 18 August 2023
According to the Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey, conducted by the Business Disability Forum, many disabled employees are struggling to get the adjustments they need at work. Only a third felt that their employer is genuine about inclusivity and removing all disability-related barriers, and the speed of getting adjustments has improved by just 4% since the last time the survey was run, in 2019. One in eight disabled people are waiting over a year for an adjustment to be made.
Adjustment passports, sometimes known as disability or accessibility passports, have been touted as the perfect solution to granting employees the adjustments they need. In theory, passports give employees a way to disclose their needs to a new manager or client without feeling uncomfortable. But often, these passports take the form of static PDF or Word documents, meaning that employees aren’t able to maintain control of their information or update their passports when their needs change. Adam Hyland at disability support social enterprise Diversity & Ability argues that these passports could be creating other barriers to inclusion: “They often focus on an individual or group, so exclude people who are not comfortable identifying as disabled,” he explains. “Historical stigmas around disability linger and there’s a narrative that they’re just for disabled people. Also, people’s lives change minute to minute, hour to hour, and these are often static documents that as soon as you’ve hit send to your manager or HR, something has changed.”
D&A offers a digital tool called AXS Passport that supports employees to share their accessibility and inclusion requirements in a way that allows them to have ownership of their data and easily update when requirements change. It demedicalises how employees ask for support, adds Hyland, something that other access passports can get wrong. “It’s available to everyone, you don’t have to have a diagnosis or fit into a certain box, and no medical information is requested. You could be a disabled employee, a parent, or someone who needs a gender-neutral bathroom,” he says. The online portal and app is free to use for employees and there is an option to get a paid organisation subscription so you can showcase what the organisation already does and be proactive about what you offer. There are clear business benefits of this, too. For example, the organisation could see that it is paying out for 50 separate licences of text-to-speech software, when it could be more cost-effective to get a site licence.
Inclusive systems
A number of employers are already seeing the benefit of offering accessibility or adjustment passports more widely, or developing their own inclusive systems. Integrated communications agency Teamspirit, like many businesses, moved to hybrid working post-Covid and managers suddenly became aware of “the huge variety of ways people work best”, according to Sandy Downs, head of diversity, equity and inclusion. “Some of this is driven by access needs; people with physical disabilities, mental health issues, and neurodiverse conditions needing certain adjustments to work comfortably,” she says. “Much of it isn’t. We of course offer reasonable adjustments to those who need them – that is the bare minimum. Beyond that, we want our whole team to thrive, and work in an environment which works for them.”
The company considered a traditional adjustment passport but felt it was too restrictive, she adds. “Instead, in collaboration with our disability network, we have just launched a ‘prefpass’ – in a nutshell, a preference passport. Every employee has one – though it isn’t compulsory – and it asks five set questions about how you work best and how you like to communicate – all open text, and designed to be editable and updated. It also has space for pronouns and phonetic name pronunciation. The prefpass covers when you like to be messaged, emailed, and called, and how you like to be briefed. There’s also a section for other information you’d like people to know. Some of our neurodiverse and disabled team members have chosen to disclose in that section. We’ve done a lot of inclusive behaviour training across the full team, and voluntary disclosures make me proud that we’re building a truly open and inclusive workplace.” Feedback so far has been positive and users have disclosed a huge variety of preferences. There is a caveat that preferences should be reasonable and flexible if possible so they can be accommodated by the needs of the business, but this has not been an issue so far.
Know your people’s preferences
Sarah Danzl, chief marketing officer at learning experience company Skillable, was diagnosed with ADHD when she was five. “I was made to feel different, but I’m high functioning and have learned ways to adapt,” she says. At her previous company, Degreed, she helped build a culture where “skills are your baseline, not your job title”, and part of this was ensuring adjustment passports were team-wide rather than an individual thing. “The key is knowing people’s preferences, and we all have them. Some don’t want to seek a diagnosis for neurodiversity, for example, or are happy with their current strategies and preferences. Some people just prefer to work at night, or hate being called out for public recognition in a meeting,” she adds.
She has asked her current team to create user manuals for how she can work with them, including elements such as how they like feedback, what sort of communication works best, or if they need flexible working arrangements. “It helps them to feel comfortable to speak out if they need anything – with layoffs happening in the tech sector at the moment people may be feeling uneasy to bring things up that make them stand out, so something like this can overcome that,” she says.
Sophie Bryan, founder and chief workplace culture consultant at Ordinarily Different, agrees that there is definitely room for improvement with workplace passports to ensure they don’t come across as too medical or impersonal. “It’s crucial to shift the perspective from a medical one to a more holistic and person-centred approach,” she says. “Rather than solely focusing on the limitations or medical aspects, the passports should highlight an individual’s unique strengths, skills, and accommodations needed to thrive in the workplace. By doing so, we can emphasise the contributions and potential of employees, regardless of their abilities or conditions.” One way to do this is not to limit them to specific groups of employees, she adds. “Instead, they should be available to all employees who may benefit from adjustments or accommodations. We should acknowledge that everyone has different needs, whether they have a visible disability, an invisible condition, or simply require certain adjustments due to personal circumstances.”
Empowering employees to express their needs, regardless of disability status, makes for a more collaborative approach, says Bryan. “By creating a culture of open communication and understanding, we can ensure that these passports are not seen as something exclusive or stigmatising. I also believe it’s crucial to involve employees in the development and review process of these passports. By seeking their input, we can better understand their experiences, needs, and preferences. This will help ensure that the passports are relevant, accurate, and truly reflect the individuals they represent.” If some form of passport is in place, providing clear guidelines and resources to managers and employees on how to use them are essential, she adds.
D&A runs free demos of its AXS Passport tool. To sign up for the next one, click here.
View more d&i Leaders articles
d&i Leaders is a global community of senior diversity, inclusion and HR focused professionals, looking to collaborate, network and accelerate their workplace inclusion strategy.