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Disability's a really important issue for KPMG because we must attract from the widest
possible talent pool. If we exclude certain people because of disability, then we just
won't have the best people in our firm. So by having a focused policy, we make it
easier for people to flourish and make the most of their talent in the firm.
It's really important that businesses become disability-confident.
And what do I mean by that? I mean actually looking at people and recognising them for
their talent, but also not being afraid to have a discussion with them about the sort
of adjustments that we need to make, to make the most of those talents.
We started on our journey around 2005 when we set up an employee network for our disabled
staff and a disability steering group which provided the leadership support for our
interventions in the area of disability at KPMG. It's not just about having a policy in place,
it's about what we do as a business and how we do it, and it extends to our interaction with
our staff, with our clients, with potential recruits and with our suppliers. It's also
about embedding what we do in our culture and building a culture of trust.
What's important is we have good role models and that we develop a culture of trust
where people can be transparent, people feel comfortable about telling us they have a
disability and that is quite a challenge.
There are a lot of challenges in being deaf
because I can only hear people, even with a very powerful hearing aid, two or three
feet away generally. Over the years we've had quite a lot of dialogue about how we can
improve things. One of the main answers to this is the sensible use of technology which
make it easier for you to do your job, more comfortable for you to do your job.
I think what disability in the workplace requires is complete honesty on both sides.
Employers are much better than they used to be in terms of providing equipment and making
changes to working patterns to accommodate disability. Unless you're really open about it
you're not going to be able to do your job properly and to the best of your ability.
In the long term that means you may actually damage your career prospects so I'd say to any
employee who's reluctant to admit that they have a problem, don't be! Just get
on with it, tell the employer and fix it.