How to Improve Remote Working for Employees with Disabilities
Before the pandemic hit the world, workers - including those who are disabled - asked their employees to work from home, but they were largely refused. The pandemic proved that workers can be productive from home and exposed the folly of calling remote work a hardship. Companies must offer accessible and usable options for everyone according to the ADA accommodations for remote employees to promote diversity and inclusion. If you want to thrive in the new era of corporate function, read this blog to learn how to improve remote working for employees with disabilities.
Tips to Improve Remote Work for People With Disabilities
Here are some tips -
1. Promote an Inclusive Culture
One of the best ways to empower employees is to create a culture where they feel valued and respected. However, this cannot be achieved overnight and requires you to chalk out a long-term inclusivity strategy. This strategy should focus on -
● Running Accessibility Surveys
Though employees are not required to disclose their disabilities, HR should ensure employees that doing so will help the company offer appropriate assistance. The whole process can be carried out via accessibility surveys, and employees can be reassured that no one except the HR team members will know about their sensitive information. In this survey, employees can mention the daily technical difficulties they face and the accommodations they expect from the company.
● Training Employees
After gathering the accessibility needs of the employees, a company should fetch information about any existing barriers and build training courses. Self-paced online courses, webinars, and workshops are some ways companies can train their hybrid and remote employees on digital accessibility. The training material should be relevant to the workforce’s tasks and remediations, and all employees should be encouraged to help out their colleagues with disabilities as they can.
● Offering Accessibility Resources
Offer assistive technologies and accommodations to help employees set up their remote workspaces. Look into extra resources you can provide in the way of accessibility training material, guides on inclusivity in the workplace, and more. Establish clear channels for employees to communicate concerns, request accommodations and support, and provide feedback.
2. Make All Communication Processes Accessible
A requirement under the ADA accommodations for remote employees is to provide an accessible work environment so that disabled workers can do their jobs efficiently. Accessibility includes removing the barriers faced by many disabled remote workers as well as in-office workers, including -
● Making Documents More Accessible
Document remediation is vital so that people with disabilities can easily access and edit them. People who are blind, people who have low vision, and dyslexic individuals may use screen readers or Braille devices to navigate documents.
● Making Virtual Presentations Accessible
Real-time transcriptions, sending accessible materials in advance, and forwarding recorded materials afterward are some steps that can help disabled employees fully participate.
● Writing Accessible Emails
Text-only emails sent through a personal email client are better from an accessibility perspective than image-heavy marketing emails with heavy coding and responsive elements inaccessible to screen readers. It is crucial to understand your accessibility features in advance.
● Making video and audio content accessible
Avoiding flickering and using captions, text descriptions, and transcripts are some ways to make video and audio content more accessible.
Final Words
Disabled employees gain a significant advantage from remote work. Creating more accessible work environments compliant with ADA recommendations for remote workers paves the way for future career advancements and makes employers more accessible. Disabled employees are an underutilized workforce who deserve a seat at the employment table, which is still far too challenging to access. Making remote work practices accessible will set your company and employees up for success.