Onboarding holds immense significance for every new employee, and it becomes even more critical for individuals with disabilities who may encounter additional hurdles while adjusting to a new work environment. As an employer, the goal is to establish an onboarding experience that not only welcomes but actively supports individuals, fostering an inclusive, accessible, and engaging introduction to the workplace. Here are some guidelines to make onboarding for people with disabilities accessible.
Tips for Ensuring Inclusive Onboarding for People with Disabilities
Comprehend the Challenges
Tools like screen readers can be valuable, but they aren’t flawless solutions. While they handle tasks like forms and informational packets, HR plays a crucial role in optimizing these elements for screen readers. This involves incorporating descriptive ALT text for images, using larger and contrasting form fields, and breaking down text blocks. Additionally, providing flexibility in working hours and allowing options like opting out of camera use in Zoom meetings empowers neurodivergent employees to align their work with their needs. Seeking guidance from a representative familiar with ADA guidelines and consulting individuals with disabilities directly can provide valuable perspectives.
Evaluate Your Existing Infrastructure
The accessibility of your workplace sets the stage for a new employee’s ongoing experience. Here are key considerations:
- Is your location easily accessible?
- Do you provide handicapped parking?
- Can everyone navigate your website and complete online forms?
- Are print materials available in accessible formats (e.g., large print, Braille, text files)?
- Assess parking, building access, security measures, bathrooms, break rooms, and workout areas.
- Ensure accessibility in computer and communication technology (e.g., alternative input devices, screen reading software).
- Offer services like sign language interpreters, readers, and note-takers.
- Confirm accessibility of emergency evacuation and shelter-in-place plans.
- Explore workplace modifications such as furniture, lighting, space, and noise reduction.
- Begin by ensuring your company’s infrastructure is equipped to assist and accommodate individuals with disabilities. Utilize the ADA checklist to guide your evaluation process.
Audit Your Tools for Accessibility
In the modern workplace, video conferencing, and collaboration platforms such as Slack play a crucial role in day-to-day operations and relationship building. To develop an inclusive environment, take a proactive step by evaluating the accessibility of these tools and promoting best practices throughout your organization.
For instance, if your organization relies on video conferencing software, ensure it incorporates features like live captioning, text-to-speech translation, and recording capabilities. Beyond tools, encourage employees to embrace accessibility best practices. This could include simple gestures like announcing names before speaking during a video call or adding alt text to images shared on messaging apps. By making these considerations a part of your onboarding process, you contribute to a workplace culture that values and accommodates everyone.
Make Sure All Onboarding Materials Are Accessible
The first day at a new job can be overwhelming. Amidst the effort to remember names and decode company acronyms, there’s the added challenge of grasping details about your company’s position, customers, industry, and competition.
Typically, this involves delving into a repository of self-serve resources—from sales decks and internal wikis to training videos and PDFs. However, what if these assets lack alt text for graphics and visual aids or captions for audio content?
Here are four recommendations to enhance the accessibility of your training materials:
1. Incorporate Image Alternative Text for Visuals:
When creating PDFs and presentations, it’s common practice to use graphics and visual aids. However, these elements may not benefit individuals with visual impairments if they lack descriptive image alternative text (alt text). Including alt text ensures that crucial information, such as logos, customer details, or market sizing, is accessible to those who cannot visually perceive images. Engaging in PDF document remediation streamlines this process, enhancing the accessibility and usability of these materials, and ensuring inclusivity for all users.
2. Include Captions for Video Content:
For all video content, ensure the provision of captions and, when necessary, audio descriptions of on-screen actions. Audio descriptions convey relevant information about actions, characters, scene changes, and on-screen text not covered in the main soundtrack, enhancing accessibility for individuals who are blind or have low vision.
3. Establish Reading Order for Slide Content:
Screen readers are commonly used by individuals with visual impairments to interpret slide information. By default, screen readers follow the order in which objects were added to a slide, which may not align with the logical reading order. Prevent confusion by configuring the reading order of slide objects. The exact method varies by tool but is often found under names like “Reading Order” (PowerPoint) or “Arrange > Order” (Google Slides).
4. Exercise Caution with Slide Overcrowding:
If you find yourself shrinking text or rearranging content excessively to fit it onto a slide, it indicates overcrowding. While this is a concern for all readers, it is particularly challenging for individuals with dyslexia or low vision. As a best practice, use sans-serif fonts of 18 pt or larger, and prioritize white space to enhance readability.
Offer Multiple Modes of Communication
To enhance the accessibility of employee onboarding for individuals with disabilities, HR can adopt a multi-faceted communication approach. For instance, incorporating subtitles in videos can be an effective way to convey information clearly, catering to those who may face challenges in hearing.
Educate Supervisors and Managers
Critical to the success of inclusive practices is the training of front-line managers and supervisors—the individuals responsible for day-to-day employee interactions. Ensuring they are well-versed in recognizing employee requests for accommodation and understanding appropriate responses is important. Often lacking basic ADA training, these supervisors may find themselves uncertain when faced with ADA-related situations. By providing adequate training, HR can empower them to navigate such scenarios adeptly, avoiding misconceptions about employee needs and ensuring a prompt and appropriate engagement in the interactive process.
Foster an Inclusive Culture
Onboarding goes beyond equipping new hires with tools; it’s about creating a culture of inclusion that appreciates and celebrates diversity. Actively promote awareness and education on disability issues among staff, managers, and leaders. Encourage positive attitudes and cultivate a sense of belonging by introducing new hires to their colleagues, teams, and networks. Encourage both social and professional interactions, supporting their career development through opportunities for learning, mentoring, feedback, and advancement.
Seek Feedback and Improvement
Recognize that onboarding is an ongoing process, requiring constant feedback and improvement. Engage new hires with disabilities in conversations about their onboarding experiences—what worked well, what didn’t, and potential areas for improvement. Utilize survey tools to collect data and metrics on onboarding outcomes such as retention, engagement, satisfaction, and performance, comparing them against established goals and benchmarks. Identify and address any gaps or challenges in the onboarding process, implementing changes or enhancements based on best practices and evidence.
