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Clear Talents at Work
Will employees be prepared to complete this questionnaire; we find it difficult to get people to fill out a monitoring form?
We’ve researched what the employee is prepared to do and how to encourage them to respond positively and we find that employees in any organisation are taking the time to complete it accurately and thoughtfully. ClearTalents feels supportive, relevant and informative, employees love it and learn from it – and it only takes a few minutes.
Will ClearTalents work with our existing systems and processes?
Absolutely, ClearTalents™ is designed to fit anywhere and everywhere within your HR or OH process depending on your organisations needs. You can integrate it fully or have it as a separate report – up to you. In our experience, reasonable adjustments need to be at point of need so we highly recommend an approach that takes the information to the relevant person and does not rely on them having to reach out for it.
We already have an OH team in place what does this do that they do not already cover?
The main challenge an OH team faces is being able to encourage all employees to disclose any needs they have and then swiftly identify and implement reasonable adjustments. Having a method whereby all employees can readily highlight all issues they have (across all the different areas of impairment and all ‘protected characteristics’ as defined by the Equality Act 2010) and instantly provide tailored advice and recommended adjustments is a milestone in meeting this challenge. This is what the ClearTalents™ tool provides. No manually-intensive process could ever explore the full extent of adjustments required across an entire organisation and take each case through to its conclusion. Where research has shown that as many as 56% of employees could benefit from some sort of adjustment (Forrester research 2005) a much needed automated approach that automatically applies expert recommendations is the only solution.
How does ClearTalents address the DSE assessment?
The DSE (Display Screen Equipment) assessment is a requirement for all employees that use a computer or electronic equipment with a screen at a desk (either their own or hot-desking). ClearTalents™ has a specific section that covers all the DSE requirements, provides detailed recommendations for employer and employee, as well as additional resources around safe working. It also reports on the specific ‘health’ of DSE usage across the entire organisation, as well as being able to integrate the DSE health into overall adjustment data for the full picture of adjustments.
How long are the reports, HR colleagues and managers really don’t have much time to read big pieces of information?
Nor do they have time to research information, find the right person to ask or have a number of calls with the employee before getting to a solution. ClearTalents™ gives information in short powerful nuggets to the relevant person. Acting a bit like a Satnav system, it provides the information you want at the point you need it. The report is modular so you can dip in and out of the relevant bits – with more information for those that require it always available, whilst headline facts and actions are right there in front of you.
Will we get lots of reasonable adjustment requests and not be able to manage them?
No, that’s the key point to ClearTalents™ really. At the moment you are likely to be getting no or few requests which would suggest that either people are not choosing to give you the information (statistically 1 in 5 people of working age are disabled for example) or you are getting lots of requests and perhaps struggling to respond to them adequately. ClearTalents™ gets the information from the employee and gives it to you along with the solution ready to put in place so it will not feel overwhelming or daunting, just sensible and appropriate.
I am concerned that this will result in loads of claims from people who have completed the questionnaire and that it sets unrealistic expectations for them about the support an employer can reasonably provide.
Quite the opposite is the case in fact. ClearTalents™ makes it very clear to the employee that whilst the employer wants to be as supportive as possible reasonableness is at the heart of the solutions you are able to provide. An additional benefit is that throughout the report the employee is encouraged to take control for themselves as well and work proactively with you on sensible solutions. Of course ClearTalents™ cannot manage the process for you, but if you follow the best practice advice provided in the report, ClearTalents™ gives you a nice audit trail of your reasonable adjustment practice which protects you within the law.
We are a large employer with many different and varied stakeholders, how do we ensure that the right people get the right level of information?
That’s easy to achieve because you control it. As part of your set up process you set the reporting levels and decide on who gets what and when. ClearTalents™ can advise you on that.
We are a really small employer is this going to create lots of extra work for us?
Not at all, ClearTalents™ is meeting a need that you have an obligation to provide for all employees. By creating a report that gives you all you need to put the adjustment in place or links you to the person that can provide it, the time and money you save not having to start from scratch are extensive.
What if an employee really needs to have someone work with them to understand their needs – maybe it’s a complex mental health issue or something?
ClearTalents™ aims to deal with the majority of common or predictable adjustments in a timely and sensitive way; however it recognises that for some individuals the personal involvement of an expert is going to be appropriate. In these cases, ClearTalents™ will report the need to involve an expert, confirm the expert requirement and direct them to someone who can provide that expertise.