Join us as a RIDI 100 partner and help drive disability inclusion in recruitment

It’s no secret that over the past few years there has been an increased focus on driving better diversity and inclusion in UK businesses.

At Guidant Global, disability equality and inclusion is particularly close to our hearts. We’ve been gold partners of RIDI (the Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative) for the past five years and during that time we’ve seen a tidal wave of change when it comes to employers welcoming and actively seeking more applications from disabled candidates.

We are proud to have played a small role in this shift, through both our own journey to Disability Confidence and by using our influence to drive change in the wider recruitment sector around disability. You can read more about our approach on the Evenbreak website.

RIDI has been a huge part of our journey. We’ve become part of this supportive community led by disability inclusion experts. We’ve asked the right questions, answered difficult questions, hosted events, won awards, shown up, shared, learnt, laughed, cried and made countless friends. We know that attitudes towards disability equality and inclusion are changing but there is still a lot more work to be done. 

That’s why we’re calling for other inclusive recruiters to join us on the RIDI 100. By joining forces to put disability inclusion high on the agenda, together we can and will drive further change.

Become a RIDI 100 Partner for just £895

Disability inclusion – the current outlook in the UK

Latest UK government statistics show that 7.6 million people of working age (16-64) reported that they had a disability in January-March 2019, which is 18% of the working-age population. Of these, an estimated 3.9 million were in employment, an increase of 150,000 from a year previously.

51.7% of people with disabilities were in employment, up from 50.7% a year previously. The employment rate for people without disabilities was 81.7%, up from 81.1%. 

While these marginal gains in disability employment exhibit signs of progress, as a country, we are still some way off achieving genuine disability inclusion. According to Scope research, a third of all disabled people feel there’s a lot of disability prejudice, with one in three people seeing disabled people as less productive than their able-bodied peers.

If people with disabilities are to have long, fruitful careers, working for companies that are inclusive to their needs, as a recruitment industry, we must work together to alter these damaging perceptions. While individually, businesses can play their part, the reality is, there also needs to be more disability representation within businesses.

That’s why becoming a RIDI 100 partner is essential for progressive recruitment businesses. By accelerating your business’ disability confidence via RIDI’s network of industry experts and inclusive recruiters, we can create a world of work that’s a more inclusive place for disabled people. As a collective, we are collaborating to help people with disabilities find meaningful work. 

This isn’t just about placing disabled people into entry-level jobs as a tick-box diversity operation, this is about having the ambition to ensure that there is a true understanding, knowledge and representation at every level – from intern to board level. Without the drive to accomplish this goal, disabled voices will never truly be represented in business decisions.

Ultimately, to create a better world for disabled people, we need to collaborate to create more inclusive, representative workplaces.

Start your journey towards disability inclusion | Become a RIDI 100 Partner for just £895

For more information, download the RIDI 100 fact sheet