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If you’re an employer, then it’s up to you to make reasonable adjustments so that you can accommodate any employees with disabilities.
It can, however, be quite challenging to know where to begin with this. Because, while reasonable adjustments should be made, where do you begin?
What if you don’t have anybody with a disability in your office?
Well, the smart thing to do is to make those adjustments anyway and improve the accessibility of your office.
Introduction: The Importance of Office Accessibility
You never know when somebody may need to come in with a disability, and you never know when they may need more help. From the commercial handrails, you can buy to adding extra ramps by the doors. There are plenty of things that you can do to improve your office accessibility. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the things to get you started so that you can make sure that accessibility is hugely improved in your organization.
Starting Point: Conducting an Accessibility Audit
Audit your current accessibility levels. What do you currently have in place to make your office more accessible? What is it that’s making your office more comfortable for people who need extra help with diversity, disability, and walking?
If you don’t have a self-assessment checklist that covers your policies, your training, and your procedures for accessibility in your organization, then you are behind. You need to create change and a structured plan of improvement can help you with that.
It would help if you considered sensory impairments as well as physical and motor disabilities. You should also ensure speech and language disorders are covered with hearing aids T zones.
Legal Considerations: Knowing Your Rights and Duties
Remember your legal rights and responsibilities. As an employer, you need to make sure that you are well-versed in different laws and policies for equal opportunities and reasonable adjustments.
Speak to your legal team and make sure that you are not breaching any of those policies by not being accessible enough for those who need you to be.
Developing an Effective Accessibility Plan
Come up with a plan. If you need to have ramps or an elevator put into your office, then you need to make sure that you have people on hand who can do this for you.
For this to work, you need to come up with a plan so that people know that your business is accessible to all. Your disability action plan must be a team effort, so get everybody in your business involved in this discussion so that they can help you come up with ideas.
Practical Measures: Making Your Office Physically Accessible
Make your premises more accessible. From parking spots to accessible bathrooms and toilets with handrails and alarms, you need to ensure that accessibility is at the forefront of your mind. Without your business being more accessible, you’re going to find that you lose out on some top talent.
Conclusion: A Collective Effort for Accessibility
Accessibility is important and not just for your business to be a success. It’s important so that you know that you are doing your best for every single visitor or employee that comes your way.
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