Apt - Making it Work final report

Part Five - Project Delivery

Our Process for working with Employers

Employer Recruitment

Recruitment of employers has been the most significant challenge for the Making It Work project. Delays to confirming the project meant the early promotion was limited, but we were able to develop materials and resources (including social media messaging) during the period before we were able to formally announce the project.

Realistically it is a 4-6 month process to get employers on board, particularly private sector businesses who are likely to require approval at several management levels before they can commit. We’re therefore satisfied with the cohort we were able to recruit in a short period and we started work with them optimistic that the workstream activities would prove fruitful.

However, the time required for recruitment meant that we were only able to proceed to the assessment and action planning process for employers in September or October 2025, leaving only 6 months to work with them. We feel it is important to emphasise that this has limited what could be achieved, specifically time for the changes to bed in and show results. We are confident that the employers that participated in Making It Work will find a long term benefit and were we to review them a year from now this would be reflected in the findings and their feedback.

SUSE has always found success when working with our large network stakeholders to market opportunities – our partners, members and trusted contacts who can encourage employers to consider working with us and hopefully give us a warm introduction to establish a relationship.

The early successes in recruiting employers were as a result of a cold calls, warm introductions and employers seeking us out for support because of social media advertising. The benefits of warm introductions have become more apparent in the last few months particularly from our partners at Changing the Chemistry. They are a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) with experience of supporting businesses to become more inclusive. Their extensive list of employer contacts led to multiple productive conversations, with several coming on board.

After the initial contacts were established, we found that in-person meetings were the most effective marketing tool. We were able to give an overview of the project and then detailed descriptions of the activities that employers could undertake, with lots of opportunities for them to ask questions.

A major element of our employer recruitment activities was the large number of presentations we made to groups and networks across Scotland, including several Local Employability Partnerships. These were well received but in reality, it was a significant investment of time for a limited return. However, it was helpful in promoting the project, good for the profile of SUSE and it will mean that the Employer Guides we produce are more likely to attract an audience as these stakeholders are aware of the project and will be interested to see its outputs.

Employer Induction and Agreement

Apt Making It Work has built on the unique approach developed during the Apt Public Social Partnership to attract and partner with Scottish businesses. Apt Public Sector Partnership Report and Evaluation 2023 (PSP).

Once partner employers have been identified and onboarded, time was spend developing a relationship by meeting regularly to discuss the project and how employers can benefit. The amount of time devoted to this is dependent on the employer but overall, we found that they were willing to give is the time we needed.

Each of the employer was asked to sign our Apt Employer Agreement. We have updated this in the past year to better explain the responsibilities of each party. This outlines our expectations of the employer and helps the employer understand what to expect from SUSE and our partners. There is no real enforcement mechanism for the agreement as we are dependent on goodwill, but we have found that the signed agreement is helpful as it increases the commitment of each employer.

As part of Apt Making it Work we have refined our employer collaboration model to streamline the process for employers, maximising the time spent on training and services and including the Quality Assurance processes for the first time. This is described on the Apt Employer Collaboration Map.

We also hoped that the new Apt Employer Collaboration Map (on the next page) would support partner employers to promote Apt internally to senior figures, who may not have been involved in initial discussions, but have an overall say in whether they should take part in a project. It is a simple visual representation of what is involved in the project and the work we will carry out.

The Apt Employer Collaboration Map

The Apt Employer Collaboration Process:

Introduction

1. Induction and signed employer agreement

2. Starting Point questionnaire

Planning

3. Comprehensive employer assessment

4. Action Planning (2-3 actions and outputs agreed)

5. Match to Apt Partner for Activity stage

Activity

6. Actions Delivered: Training, Consultancy, Mentoring, Advice

7. Actions Evaluated: Employer feedback

8. Return to Stage 4 and agree more actions

Employer Self-Assessment and Report & Recommendations

The Disability Inclusion at Work Assessment Tool is intended to give us a comprehensive picture of the current position in each of the businesses that have agreed to work with us on the project. The assessment process is intended to capture the employer’s strengths in this area and deficits that they wish to address.

To make the process more efficient we have moved to a first stage self-assessment. The employer is given time and support to complete the document and we then schedule follow up meeting with them to fill in additional information and discuss their findings.

The assessment document was designed in the PSP and has been revised and updated on a couple of occasions since then, including before we started the Making It Work project.

The main sections of the assessment are:

• Employer Information inc. main operations, sector, location and number of employees
• Baseline Data (if available)
• Key Roles in the business
• Current Recruitment Processes inc. adjustments
• Reasonable Adjustments in the workplace
• Workplace culture
• Performance management processes
• Workforce development activities
• Management approaches
• Exit activities
• Retention and attrition
• Ideas for employer action plan

We also take the opportunity to gather the resources that are available such as example job adverts, job descriptions, training schedules, employee handbooks and policies.

The findings of the assessment process and meetings are gathered together in a bespoke Report & Recommendations for each employer.

This includes a narrative on the employer, their history and function and information on their workforce.

The final section is a list of objectives that have been agreed and, if necessary, priority actions to be taken forward with a note of the resources required and an intended outcome.

Making It Work Quality Assurance Process for Employers

The Making It Work project used the Apt Quality Assurance system to gather data on the employers’ progress. Ideally the survey responses should be gathered three times in a 12 month period – before work starts, at the mid-way point and on completion.

Due to the truncated project deliver timescale we issued the questionnaires in November 2025 and again in April 2026.

Employers were asked to score each statement from 1 to 10 (from 1 fully disagree to 10 fully agree). At the outset of the project we set a target of achieving an average and median increase of 2 points on the 10-point scale against each of the measures. These are the 14 survey questions:

1. We feel confident about providing employment opportunities to disabled people. 16 employers will report an increased score.

2. We have a good awareness of how to meet disabled employees' requirements. 14 employers will report an increased score.

3. We are confident we understand the range of disabilities or long-term health conditions referred to by the term disabled people. 16 employers will report an increased score.

4. We are aware of how to record and monitor data relating to disabled applicants and employees e.g. numbers applying for our vacancies, numbers selected for interview. 8 employers will report an increased score.

5. We believe that our employees would be confident to declare a disability or long-term health condition. 12 employers will report an increased score.

6. We are confident in our ability to offer support to disabled employees or those with long-term health conditions specific to their requirements. 14 employers will report an increased score.

7. We are confident our employees would know how to support a disabled colleague. 12 employers will report an increased score.

8. We are confident about having positive workplace conversations with disabled employees. 16 employers will report an increased score.

9. We have confidence in our organisation's policies and procedures around recruiting and employing disabled people. 14 employers will report an increased score.

10. We are satisfied that we offer good opportunities to disabled people including work placements, paid jobs, and career development opportunities. 14 employers will report an increased score.

11. We are aware of support organisations who can assist us to recruit and retain disabled employees or those with long-term health conditions. 12 employers will report an increased score.

12. We are satisfied with the number of disabled people applying for jobs/placements, attending interviews and securing and sustaining employment with our organisation. 10 employers will report an increased score.

13. We understand the need for and utilise inclusive recruitment processes and accessible digital recruitment platforms. 8 employers will report an increased score.

14. We expect that there will be an increase in the number of disabled people we employ in the next year. 12 employers will report an increased score.

Delays with employer recruitment impacted on our evaluation and quality assurance processes due to the time available. We should have issued our QA questionnaires at Month 1, Month 6 and Month 12. Instead, these were issued twice in October 2025 and March/April 2026.

Findings from the Quality Assurance Activities

This graph is a visual representation of the changes in employers’ median scores from the start to the end of the project against the 14 survey questions. the orange line is the employer scores in October 2025 and the blue line is the scores in March 2026:

The lists and graphs above highlight the continued success of the Apt model to improving the outcomes for disabled staff and those with long term health conditions. On average, we can demonstrate an increase of 2.1 for each question.

The largest increase was for question 13: an increase of 4.2 points showing employers have a much great understanding of the need to use inclusive recruitment process particularly digitally. These scores are reinforced by the positive feedback received from employers who contributed to our Digital Access Reviews.

The purpose of Making It Work was not only to support employers with areas they are struggling in but to also highlight the areas in which they are excelling when it comes to supporting disabled staff. The average increase of 2.9 of question 10 shows employers are more satisfied that they are offering good quality opportunities and support to disabled workers.

Throughout Apt, it has been clear employers lack confidence to advertise their inclusive practices, which in turn limits the talent pool they are attracting to roles. By being confident and vocal in their commitment to inclusivity, employers will see an increase in the diversity of talent applying for roles. They will also retain talent, who can see on a daily basis, the efforts being made by the employer to support all staff.

Another key metric to assess is an employer’s confidence in hiring disabled staff, effectively their confidence in working with and support disabled people in the workplace. We are able to show a 2.8 average increase in confidence from 6.1 to 8.9. This is a crucial increase as it shows employers are more willing and able to work with disabled people and confidently support them in the workplace. All factors that will determine whether the Scottish Government’s target of halving the Disability Employment Gap by 2038 is met or not.

The smaller increase of 0.7 for question 5 highlights the challenge of positively changing cultural and societal views on disability disclosure. We are delighted to see that our employers feel their staff would be more likely to disclose a disability, but it will take time and regular support and advice from organisations like SUSE and its partners to see a wider cultural shift around disability disclosure. This feedback also reinforces the importance of workstreams like Positive Workplace Conversations and campaigns like Why You Askin’? to help employees and employers make that shift. If we are to continue this positive shift, ensuring employers understand the range of disabilities and long-term health conditions referred to by the Equalities Act 2010 definition is vital. We can show an above average increase of 2.5 points with employers feeling they have a broader understanding of the definition of disability.

Quotes from Making It Work Employers:

“I liked the simple ways that changes can be made to the application process to make it easier for disabled people to apply to our organisation.”

“The training facilitator was great and very knowledgeable. I'm grateful for their honest insights.”

“[SUSE] were complimentary of what we’ve done but felt they made it easy to achieve [our targets], they were very pragmatic and tailored the action plan to our organisations needs. The project felt really collaborative. Everyone at SUSE was very approachable.”

“Cole AD’s session covered all the key areas for my role and was relaxed and informative. I also enjoyed the exercise at the end as it made us look out for things we'd been shown earlier in the session when pretending to apply for a job on another website. I am going to apply what I have learnt from this to our own website.”

“So many areas to consider to enable those with disabilities or long-term health conditions the same access to our services via our website. Also, for staff to access forms, internal communications, etc. Will discuss this further with our marketing team and Corporate Manager to ensure these learnings are implemented as much as possible throughout.”

“[Digital Access Review report] is really helpful and easy to understand. The report reflects our thinking and in many cases what we found when we did an internal review, so it’s good to confirm the points to improve. We know there is room for improvement. The scores are reassuring as we didn’t set out to design the modules with disability in mind but we are set on making those changes.”

“The Disability Awareness training was thought provoking. It was particularly interesting to hear from someone with lived experience and the discriminations that people face on a daily basis. The training also provided honest insights into the difficulties faced when starting a new role.”

“[We were] happy working with Apt – the process was clear, helpful and focused on real user issues.”