The growing gap in the hiring of employees with disabilities in Ireland is due in part to a lack of confidence among employers that they can meet the needs of a more diverse workforce.

Social enterprise platform Now Group has published the results of a report exploring the impact caution and fear is having on the recruitment of employees with additional needs. 

iReach, on behalf of Now Group, surveyed 150 employees across Ireland during the month of July. What was discovered is that confidence, or rather the lack thereof, is preventing Irish employers from hiring more applicants with disabilities or with umbrella conditions such as neurodivergence. 

According to the group’s findings, Ireland currently has the largest disability employment gap in the EU and only 8pc of employers who participated in the research described themselves as confident when it comes to hiring and supporting neurodivergent employees and other groups managing similar conditions.

The research acknowledged that while many organisations recognise the value in creating an inclusive hiring environment, a significant proportion also lack the confidence, knowledge or practical tools to do so.

More than half (54pc) said that they feel only “a little” equipped or “not at all” equipped to hire and support neurodivergent people and other people with disabilities.

Evidently, the fear of making a mistake in communicating with someone who might need workplace accommodations has created barriers in employer hiring practices.

One quarter of participants agreed that worries around being insensitive during recruitment or in the workplace presented a barrier to hiring more inclusively and 26pc said they are currently unsure of how to “reach neurodivergent candidates and candidates with disabilities”.

Almost one out of every five (18pc) said they would not know how to accommodate people with additional needs in the workplace while 15pc added they would be unsure of how they would even accommodate them during the recruitment process. 

Now Group’s research identified a number of areas in which employers can move from the simplicity of good intentions, to taking actual action. 25pc of participants to the survey said that training on workplace inclusivity would make a noticeable difference in helping them hire more inclusively.

Nearly one-quarter (24pc) said that they want far more guidance on how to better engage with neurodivergent people and others with conditions that make the workplace more challenging.   

Maeve Monaghan, the CEO of Now Group, said: “The biggest message from this research is that employers don’t necessarily lack the willingness to become more inclusive, many lack the confidence and practical knowledge to know where to begin. 

“Our message to Irish employers is simple: you don’t need to have all the answers before you start. The expertise and support is available.”

SiliconRepublic.com previously spoke with Martin McKay, the co-founder of Texthelp, an Antrim-based organisation that provides assistive technology and edtech software to the education and workplace sectors. He explored how organisations are losing out on the opportunity to pull from a much wider and talented pool of expertise by failing to evolve workplace structures that favour the ‘typical’ candidate.

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