Disability, Mental Health & Wellbeing Report 2023

The following is our 2023 Disability, Mental Health & Wellbeing report, following the Voluntary Reporting Framework from UK Gov. As a Disability Confident Leader, we pledge to report on disability, mental health and wellbeing in our organisation every year.

Data Collection

In November 2023, we released an anonymous online form to all our staff to collect data on disability, mental health and wellbeing. We gave staff one week to complete the form and we asked staff the same questions as the recommended ones in the Voluntary Reporting Framework.

At the point of survey, we had ten members of staff and received four submissions (40% response rate). The form was optional, open for seven days and staff were reminded to complete it.

Due to the size of the organisation, we will only provide top-level statistics, the minimum required by the Voluntary Reporting Framework, to avoid compromising the anonymity of individuals who completed the survey. We have not reviewed individual submissions, only the aggregate statistics.

Disability

How we recruit and retain disabled staff members

Disabled people are a very underrepresented demographic in the technology industry. Despite 19% of the UK workforce having a disability, only 9% of IT specialists are disabled (BCS Insights Report, 2019)

To support our recruitment efforts, we recently updated our equality statement to be more detailed and to explicitly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics in the technology industry, such as women and disabled people. Furthermore, we implemented a Guaranteed Interview scheme across all job positions, meaning that disabled applicants will be offered an interview provided they meet the essential job criteria. In addition, we explicitly state that applicants do not have to disclose their disability to register for the scheme.

Throughout our interview stages, we score applicants against several pre-defined themes, for example, technical ability and situational awareness might be two themes. Scoring is carried out by a panel of at least three staff members, and the average score is taken for each theme, to remove as much bias as possible. Points in these themes can be gained from any of the four components; namely, CV and/or supporting statement, interview, optional portfolio, and references. For example, if an applicant struggled with a question about programming, they could gain any lost points from a good example of that same programming aspect in a portfolio piece. Every theme has a maximum number of points which is attainable without submitting the optional component.

We believe this novel interview system will help our recruitment efforts by allowing disabled applicants to engage in a more equitable recruitment process. For example, if an applicant had severe anxiety and struggled articulating their skillset in an interview, their portfolio of past projects could speak for itself. It’s also worth noting that we reach out to all interviewees via email to enquire about any reasonable adjustments for their interview. Applicants may have anxiety around reaching out to the company, so we have also tackled that potential barrier. In addition, we are proud that all staff members are paid at least the Real Living Wage, and we are committed to preventing any wage gaps between different demographics as the company grows.

To help us retain disabled staff, we have put several considerations into place. For example, we have a disability disclosure system with two different levels of disclosure. Our on-boarding process allow staff to make disclosures to Team People (our HR department) and then a meeting will be arranged to discuss adjustments we can put into place to support them. Regular follow-up meetings are scheduled in the future to discuss and evaluate the adjustments and make any desired changes. The member of staff decides whether their Line Manager is informed of their disability. These disclosures are explicitly welcomed at any stage of employment; because we understand that firstly, people’s disability status can change and, secondly, new staff may be afraid of being disadvantaged or treated differently. If that is the case, our hope is that they would disclose at a later stage, once they feel comfortable, thanks to our open and friendly working environment.

In addition, we wrote bespoke EDI training materials for all staff. Topics include seen vs unseen disabilities, our disclosure process, and reasonable adjustments. We also developed specific materials for Line Manager training, detailing how to approach managing a disabled member of staff in terms of understanding, language, and behaviour. Our hope is that this training will contribute towards fostering a supporting and welcoming environment to all staff. Finally, we have reviewed relevant company policies to explicitly give more flexibility and consideration to disabled staff.

Reporting on Disability

According to our reporting form, 50% of respondents consider themselves to have a disability or long-term health condition. We are proud to have several disabled members of our team despite the small size of our organisation. We hope that the considerations we have put into place over the past few months will continue to encourage disabled people to apply for our roles going forward. Jamescape is committed to creating an equitable working environment that welcomes and embraces a diverse team.

You can find our EDI pledge here.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

How we support staff with their mental health and wellbeing

Jamescape has always adopted a flexible, hybrid, and asynchronous working model. This allows all staff to work where they want, when they want, however they work best. We are very flexible with giving staff breaks to recharge. Providing they can meet any pre-agreed deadlines, staff are allowed to choose their working hours and environment. All staff can book 1-to-1 meetings with their Line Manager to check-in and discuss their work. We have found that regularly touching base not only helps staff keep on track but also builds more open communication between Line Managers and their staff.

Our internal staff resource hub has a page that signposts staff to different mental health support services like Samaritans and Mind. We are also exploring ways we can incorporate mental health into our staff e-learning, particularly for Line Managers. In addition, we are planning to complete an internal review of our practice against UK Gov’s Thriving at Work (Stevenson/Farmer) Review of Mental Health report.

Reporting on mental health and wellbeing

For the most part, all four of our respondents answered the questions surrounding mental health and wellbeing. Generally, the mental health of our staff is at a good standard. The average rating for the question ‘Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?’ was 7.25/10. When asked ‘Overall, to what extent do you feel that things you do in your life are worthwhile?’ the average rating was 8.00/10. Notably, staff felt happy (average response 7.75/10 when asked ‘How happy did you feel yesterday?’) but also felt anxious (average response 5.75/10 when asked ‘How anxious did you feel yesterday?’). Staff are very satisfied with their job at Jamescape, responding with an average of 8.25/10 when asked ‘All in all, how satisfied are you with your job?’. 75% of respondents claimed they would recommend Jamescape as a great place to work.

Physical health among respondents seems to be good, as the question ‘How would you rate your overall physical health now?’ had an average rating of 8.00/10. However, overall mental health was lower, with an average rating of 6.75/10. This result implies that while our staff’s mental health could be better, working at Jamescape does not have a negative impact on their wellbeing.

75% of respondents said that they felt safe from threats and physical hazards at work. We were disappointed in this result as we work hard to ensure our office space is an accessible, clean, and comfortable place to work.

In terms of support, 50% of respondents believed that their Line Manager and colleagues supported them adequality at work, with other respondents choosing the ‘Somewhat’ response. We were already putting in measures to ensure that this standard of support will improve across the board and will continue to work on this.

The results of our reporting form paint a diverse team with a good standard of mental health. Overall, we are very proud of these results, and it highlights that our workplace adjustments and flexible management style leads to a happy, healthy team. We pledge to continuously review, evaluate, and update our practice whilst putting the wellbeing of our staff first, as we believe people work their best when they feel safe and happy.