Business Disability Forum (BDF) is asking disabled employees and line managers to share their experiences using and managing workplace adjustments through its Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey 2023 – sponsored and supported by Microlink.

The survey findings will help BDF capture experiences around requesting, making, and reviewing adjustments for disabled employees and assess the process, experience, and impact adjustments have on disabled employees enjoying their job and feeling included at work. It also looks at how far managers feel they have been equipped to ‘do’ disability inclusion and make adjustments.

BDF carried out its first workplace adjustments survey in 2019. The survey captured the views of over 1,200 and is one of the most extensive studies on workplace adjustments ever conducted.

The findings showed that of the employees working with adjustments:

• 80% said their adjustments have helped them stay in their job and be more productive.
• 60%, however, felt they did not have all the adjustments they needed.

Of those working without adjustments:

• 34% said they did not make requests because they were worried their employer might treat them differently.

The Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey 2023

BDF’s new survey will look at the progress made since 2019 and how the workplace and working life have changed. Three new themes have been added to the study for 2023. These are:

• The working lives of disabled employees post-pandemic.
• How disabled employees feel about health and wellbeing at work.
• The experiences of disabled graduates who have entered the workplace in the last five years.

Business Disability Forum’s Head of Policy and Research, Angela Matthews, said: “Our last survey showed that access to the right workplace adjustments transformed the workplace experience for many disabled people. But stigma, long waiting times and poor processes prevented people from benefitting from adjustments as much as they should.

“The workplace has changed dramatically over the last couple of years. We want to see how this has impacted the adjustments process and the learnings for the future. We thank everyone, in advance, for sharing their experiences with us.”

How to take part in the 2023 survey

Business Disability Forum would like to invite you to take part in the survey if you consider yourself to be any of the following:

• An employee with a disability or long-term condition, working with or without adjustments.
• A manager (line manager, project manager, supervisor, diversity and Inclusion manager or HR Manager)
• A senior leader.
• A recent disabled graduate.

The survey is available on Business Disability Forum’s website until 23 February 2023. All responses are captured and reported anonymously.