The last research on disabled representation at FTSE 100 CEO level was carried out by the Valuable 500 in 2020. Of the FTSE top 100 companies asked not one had a single leader with a declared disability. So it’s reasonable to assume that no one with a declared disability is at the top of any of the top 100 UK companies. That’s really staggering.
Business leaders are worrying. Some are worrying about what matters in terms of whether to contract or expand and rising costs. They have worried about diversity and representation and there have been many strides in race, sexuality and gender. Not enough but certainly moves forward. But disabled people have not seen these same shifts. The world’s largest minority – which as a blind man I am a member of. One fifth of the world’s population. But disability still ranks way down in last place in employment representation.
I know because I’ve experienced it. Everything I have achieved has been against a backdrop of discrimination, being passed over or avoided. The exception to this has been in the music world. I produced albums that sold millions and so I tried to use this success as a platform to set up in business. But no one would lend a blind man money. But I didn’t stop. My second business in 1983 did well and I sold it for £4m. Still no one offered me a job. In 2013, with a partner I set up the music company Blue Raincoat. We started with £400,000 of our own money. By 2019 we were valued at £40m. The UK business is now worth over £65m and growing. At Blue Raincoat as in all my previous businesses, we put the emphasis on diversity and inclusion in everything we did. The company has outperformed the market every year since 2016.
The largest misconception about the results of incorporating diversity and inclusion into your organisation is that they are costly to maintain, they require adaptations in working practices that will adversely affect other colleagues, reputation and ultimately the bottom line. All research informs us that it’s quite the opposite.
The real bottom line is the most diverse and inclusive businesses make on average 28 per cent more profit than those at the other end of the scale. Inclusion, the creation of an environment where every person can bring their whole, authentic self to work isn’t just a nice to have. It means you will have a more successful business and to be blunt make more money. But figures by Accenture say 53 per cent of employers admit to feeling ‘awkward’ when talking with a disabled person and 8 out of 10 people with a ‘hidden’ disability do not tell employer or colleagues as they feel it will adversely impact their prospects.
People with disabilities, like me, will often have the word “founder” as their email signature. They must be entrepreneurs by necessity. The irony is this also means they have the tenacious and strategic characteristics that every boardroom needs. Diversity and inclusion cannot be a bolt-on – that’s not likely to reward anyone. These tenets need to not just be integrated in policy and strategy but to underpin both. They have to be in the DNA of an organisation. If more companies recognise this I hope the next FTSE 100 survey will be different.
