Employing those with past or existing health conditions inevitably represents a challenge for HR professionals. During a decade as a trustee of an ME/CFS charity I have seen incredible talents going to waste, and a real lack of imagination on the part of employers to take the leap in utilising those talents. And to be frank, why would they? People who alternate unpredictably between periods of relative wellness and ill-health might test the most enlightened employer.
In most cases though, a health condition means no more than a hole in a CV that is purely historical, or an ability to produce regular work but needing to do this in a slightly flexible way.
I am an ME (Myalgic Encephalopathy) sufferer myself and so have first hand experience of how difficult finding employment can be with a health condition. Returning to the job market after my spell as a charity trustee, in early 2015, I found applications failed to generate a single interview; networking more directly was draining for someone with ME - and the interest people kindly offered in person rarely persisted. In the job market my capabilities appeared depressingly irrelevant.
It quickly became apparent that I should put my charity trustee hat back on. The body representing employers with a commitment to disability, the BDF, told me people with health histories represented a 'systemic issue' with 'not many solutions'. Even significant bodies funded by Government to oversee the tech industry - where disabled people might most readily exercise their talents equally - seemed never to have thought about disability. Enquiries about flexible working met with almost universal refusal.
I was told that compliance obstructed disabled prospective employees building relationships with employers. Indeed a culture of conformity and compliance seemed to have swept away the old school culture whereby someone keen was seen to deserve a chance. Which suggests that the increasing professionalisation of HR may have brought genuine willingness to embrace diversity, but has simultaneously promoted more robust procedures that work to exclude the less robust.
My experience was that recruiters seemed to present a rather one-size-fits-all gateway to a fairly fixed version of what a job is. This is not just morally wrong, it’s also logically wrong. The tasks completed and talents utilised by many employees day-to-day frequently play out in ways that are quite particular to that employee. Why then should pathways to jobs that are often specific and individual in nature, be so one-sized?
The operative words here are 'talents and 'tasks'. People with health conditions will often have talents to offer and an absolute ability to fulfil the required tasks, but will need to complete those tasks in quite specific ways (flexibly, part-time, from home etc.) Since in any case many jobs are so specific, and are routinely completed by individuals acting in their own unique idiocentric ways, is there really any reason for the uniformity in recruitment that shuts many disabled people out?
Perhaps two things are needed for successful change. First: more fluid recruitment, whereby a 'talents and tasks' route is offered as an alternative to the standard application format. Online application forms naturally allow the flexibility to divert applicants to any number of alternative routes which may allow them to better describe their suitability for a role. Second: a new kind of employment contract might be needed to persuade employers to forsake the safety net of employing round pegs for round holes. Many with health conditions will know what they are capable of, and be perfectly happy to sign a contract based on guarantees about that capability.
And my own attempts to get recruited? Despite possessing in-demand skills and qualifications, it remained the case that even a role as a coffee pouring and delivering executive was not coming my way. So I've started developing bespoke apps to help embed training and support. The possibilities seem incredibly exciting... but then, for me, even a role making the coffee has come to represent a quite thrilling prospect…
Steven Shaw is a researcher and freelance developer of behavioural change apps
