By Daisy Hooper, Head of Policy and Innovation at the Chartered Management Institute

The COVID-19 pandemic forced organisations to think differently about work. As a result, many adopted or expanded remote and hybrid working. This change in working practices has provided flexibility and continuity for many, but it has also exposed pre-existing inequalities. For disabled workers, the physical and social barriers that impeded inclusion in traditional work environments often persisted in the virtual realm.

At CMI, we know from our own research – The Everyone Economy – that positive views around inclusion and supporting workers to achieve their best are often not backed up by concrete action to deliver on these ambitions. For example, 4 in 5 (81%) respondents to our research thought disabled people were underrepresented in their organisation but only 1 in 5 (22%) said their organisation was planning to take steps to increase representation of disabled people at any level. A further two thirds of respondents said their organisation either had no initiatives around disability in the workplace or they did not know if their organisation had any initiatives. This highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by disabled workers and the role that managers can play in supporting them to thrive.

Previous research from Lancaster University and The Work Foundation found that disabled employees faced additional challenges compared to their non-disabled counterparts when working remotely or in hybrid environments. These challenges included difficulties in accessing appropriate technology and accommodations, feeling isolated and disconnected from their teams, and facing barriers in career progression opportunities.

Managers hold a critical position in understanding the experiences of disabled workers in remote and hybrid work settings. We know they can improve communication and promote better engagement, support necessary accommodations and flexibilities. Research by CMI and The Work Foundation found that line manager support for remote working is considered particularly important by disabled workers, with 61% of disabled workers indicating they felt comfortable asking for remote working because their line manager was supportive of it.

Additionally, international research, conducted by the likes of Business Disability Forum and Boston Consulting Group  emphasise the significance of well-trained managers in promoting disability inclusion. Their work on supporting an inclusive culture for employees with disabilities indicates that managers who receive training on disability-related issues are more likely to create inclusive work environments, effectively communicate with disabled employees, and provide reasonable accommodations.

All of this is important because there is increasing evidence of the link between diversity and inclusion, job satisfaction, wellbeing and productivity. Given the under representation of disabled people in the UK workforce this represents significant untapped potential. For employers, a more diverse workforce brings with it fresh ideas and innovative points of view that can positively impact on the overall success of a company.

By actively engaging with disabled employees, managers can gain insights into the specific challenges they face and identify potential solutions, particularly when the numbers of those reporting a disability in work are increasing. This understanding allows managers to create an inclusive work environment that supports the diverse needs of their team members and enables them to perform at their best. Managers can make a big difference to the experience of disabled people in work simply by prioritising regular two-way communication and acting on any queries or suggestions that come up. One of the reasons this work is important is to shed more light on the experiences of disabled people because we know that data collection around disabled representation and barriers to their progression is limited.

Understanding disabled workers’ experiences in remote and hybrid work settings is essential for designing inclusive work models in a post-pandemic landscape. We want to see managers, as key stakeholders, actively engaging in this process by recognising the challenges faced by disabled employees, providing necessary support and accommodations, and fostering a culture of inclusion. This research project will provide valuable insights into ’what works’ and learning from this, managers can play a positive role, paving the way for a work environment where disabled workers are valued, empowered, and able to thrive.

Daisy Hooper is Head of Policy and Innovation at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

To have your own voice heard on how to make remote and hybrid work more inclusive within a post-pandemic employment landscape, please participate in this research by completing our survey of disabled workers’ experiences. Employers are making decisions now about future ways of working that will affect the long-term working conditions, health and wellbeing of disabled workers across the UK and beyond, so we thank you for taking the time to be involved in shaping these decisions through your own participation in this project.

Dr Calum Carson (Senior Research Associate for the Study) has written a guest article for our project partner the Work Foundation’s website, which you can find in full by clicking on this link. The article explores the origins of how the Inclusive Remote and Hybrid Working Study came to be, why it is so important to better understand disabled workers’ experiences of remote and hybrid working and what they need to make such models of work inclusive to their needs, and how you can get involved in the research and ensure that your voice is heard in our findings yourself.

The Work Foundation is a leading think tank for improving working lives in the UK. They believe everyone should have access to secure, rewarding and high-quality work, and deliver rigorous applied research to tackle structural inequalities in the labour market and improve working lives across the UK.

Today we are launching the first stage of research for this study, in the form of a nationwide survey exploring disabled workers’ experiences of remote and/or hybrid working. The survey is open to all those with experiences of either, and can be found by clicking anywhere on this line.

The survey is open for completion by those who:

– Are aged 18 or older
– Identify as disabled and/or have a limiting long-term health condition
– Work in private/public/third sector organisations of varying sizes
– And have experiences of remote and/or hybrid working, regardless of present employment status.

We strongly encourage any and all those who fit this criteria to complete the survey, and/or share it with your own networks too: by participating, you are helping to identify how employers can make remote and hybrid working more inclusive of disabled workers’ needs. This is important to promote disabled workers’ recruitment, job retention and progression, and ensure that they are not left behind as the world of work continues to evolve and employers continue to make decisions now about future ways of working.

Thank you in advance for your support of this study, and we look forward to sharing the findings with you in due course!

Welcome to the Study!

Hello, and welcome to the first blog post detailing the development of the Inclusive Remote and Hybrid Working Study! This page will provide frequent updates on the progress of the project until its completion in December 2024 and beyond as various outputs from the study’s findings are published.

Whilst forthcoming posts on this page will focus more fully on the latest fieldwork developments of the project, in our first blog we outline the study.

Breaking it down

The Inclusive Remote and Hybrid Working Study is funded by the Nuffield Foundation and explores, through the experiences of disabled workers and employers, how to make remote and hybrid working more inclusive to promote disabled workers’ recruitment, job retention and progression. The rationale for the research stems from the ongoing discussions among employers, policymakers and researchers (among others) as to what the future shape of work might be in a post-pandemic world in which new forms of remote and hybrid working are increasingly available to workers, and to consider whether these changes will be inclusive of disabled workers’ needs.

The project builds on a previous Work Foundation research study conducted by some members of this project team (Paula Holland and Rebecca Florisson), in which it was reported that disabled employees are generally keen to continue working remotely at least some of the time, with 65.8% of disabled workers surveyed ideally wanting to work remotely 80-100% of the time (or 4-5 days a week), while another 16% wanted to work remotely 60% of the time (or the equivalent of 3 days in a full-time working week). However, we found participants were also concerned that working remotely may disadvantage them; for example an increased lack of visibility in the workplace may negatively impact disabled workers’ success to work opportunities and progression.

The report from this research can be found in full by clicking anywhere on this line.

Defining our terms

When utilising terms as nuanced and complex as “disability” and “hybrid working” as the focal points of an academic research project, it is vital for the team conducting the study in question to be as open and clear as possible in how they are specifically defining such terms. There is an extensive literature and a series of ongoing debates on what constitutes “disability” or an “impairment” in particular, and the intricacies of these discussions have continued to evolve over the years as new areas of argument are put forth: is Long-Covid, for example, considered a disability? And if so, what are the implications for individual workers and their employers of this, let alone the larger socioeconomic, legal and political ramifications?

While such debates will continue to play out, and perhaps never be fully settled, it is important for both participants of our study and those interested in the research we are conducting to be aware of how we ourselves are defining disability for the purposes of this project, and whether participants themselves identify as being disabled or having an impairment of some form. After careful consideration with our Public Advisory Group, which includes representatives from Disabled People’s Organisations as well as individuals with varying impairments/health conditions and experience of balancing their conditions with home-/hybrid working, we have arrived at the following definition as displayed in the disabled workers’ survey element of the research:

“Do you regard yourself as being disabled and/or having some form of impairment or learning disability or long-term health condition? By ‘long-term’ we mean lasting (or expected to last) 12 months or more. This could include depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, blindness, Long-Covid, Cancer, HIV, or other physical, mental, behavioural and/or cognitive conditions.”

The broad nature of this definition, encompassing long-term health conditions of 12 months or more as well as more traditionally accepted examples of what constitutes being disabled or having an impairment, recognises the ongoing discussions and debates referred to above, as well as a desire to have as broad a participant base as possible for this project’s survey to ensure that a wide range of worker’s experiences are better understood and reflected in our findings.

In a similar fashion, it is equally important for participants in our study to understand what we define as “hybrid working” and “remote working” to understand the specifics of what we are seeking to understand, which we define in the following ways:

“By ‘remote working’ we mean working from home or from a remote office outside of the employer’s premises. ‘Hybrid working’ is where people spend part of their time working remotely, and part of their time working in their employer’s premises.”

These definitions provide clear boundaries for both participants in the research and other interested parties to understand more fully what the specific focus of this project is, and what we are most keen to explore through it.

Next steps

Fieldwork is scheduled to begin in early summer 2023, and will include:

• A UK-wide survey of disabled employees about their experiences of remote or hybrid working and what inclusive remote or hybrid working looks like
• Follow-up interviews with a sample of survey respondents.
• Interviews with employers and organisational case studies about how they are implementing remote or hybrid working in the context of workforce diversity.
• Online focus groups with policymakers from the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, The Government Equalities Office, and devolved administrations.

The first stage of this study will be the nationwide survey of disabled workers’ experiences of hybrid and remote working, whether in a previous role and/or a present role (if currently employed). The survey is now live on the project’s website following its current piloting stage which you can find by clicking anywhere on this line, and we encourage all those who meet the criteria to fill out the survey and help participate in this important piece of research.

This is time-critical research: employers are making decisions now about future ways of working that will affect the long-term working conditions, health and wellbeing of disabled workers, and this project will ensure that such decisions are taken with a greater level of understanding of how both employers and workers feel about them.

Keep your eyes peeled for future posts on this page highlighting how the project is going as it continues to develop, and thank you for your interest in our research at this stage: we can’t wait to share our findings with you!

Welcome to the project website for the Inclusive Hybrid and Remote Working Study (IHRWS), funded by the Nuffield Foundation and led by Lancaster University.

This project explores UK-based disabled workers’ experiences of hybrid and remote working, specifically in how to make remote and hybrid working (working both at home and from the office) more inclusive to promote disabled workers’ recruitment, job retention and progression.

The project will run from 2023 through to December 2024, with fieldwork commencing Summer 2023.

Please feel free to explore this website from the drop-down menu above to learn more about the project and how you can get involved.