Abbey
The Marketplace
Abbey is making efforts to ensure that it does not discriminate against disabled customers consciously, but also to ensure that their staff are educated to stamp out any inadvertent discrimination. This is put in place through their Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) “e-learning” training, which all branch staff have completed, is updated every 6 months. A pack has also been developed for staff covering best practice and good working procedures when dealing with disabled customers. This helps to crucially alter the customer-staff relationship, helping customers with disabilities get on top of their money and improves the customer experience, whilst fulfilling legal requirements. Abbey have been working with disability groups, including the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), and upgrading branches to ensure that physical barriers are removed. Access works have been completed at the majority of Abbey sites. We have unfortunately experienced a number of delays due to challenges from local planning authorities however the task is due to be completed by June 2005.
The Workplace
Abbey's partnership agreement with the Employment Service Disability Service provides access to work for people with disabilities, making sure that new and existing staff get the necessary aids and equipment to make their working lives easier.
Abbey maintains strong links with local disability networks and supports the Employers Network on Disability (ENOD) in Milton Keynes for instance. The Network brings together employers disabled people and service providers to help each party further understand the others needs, helping to improve relationships and services between them. Over the last year joint projects between Abbey and ENOD have included: ENOD's exhibition of assistive technology supported by the Abbey facilities and occupational health departments; Abbey's occupational health adviser presenting at ENOD's AGM; and Abbey staff offered free places on ENOD sponsored disability training. An Abbey employee is on ENOD's board to help provide business knowledge and expertise. Abbey also uses the Charitable Trust (created by them in 1990) to provide a significant amount of ENOD's funding and for the past two years have provided the charity with office and IT facilities. Abbey has benefited from the Network's disability expertise in terms of contact with local and national networks, experience of working with a range of disabilities and knowledge of funding streams, and have helped create Abbey's mentoring schemes.
In 2003, Abbey held a successful open day in their Bradford offices to promote employment opportunities within Abbey and raise awareness of Abbey as an employer for people with hearing disabilities. Abbey now have 14 hearing impaired people working in their Customer Account Service Excellence (CASE) team. Abbey have employed interpreters to attend team meetings and provide help when needed, and to improve communications on a day to day basis arrangements were made for interested employees to receive sign language training. The training was carried out in employee's own time, after work at the office by a hearing impaired colleague who is a qualified teacher, free of charge. In 2004, two eight-week training sessions were carried out. This training was so well received that plans have been made to arrange a one-year course for interested employees to train for stage one British Sign Language. Employees who complete this successfully will then have external qualifications in sign language, making huge leaps in closing the gap in communications between employees at Abbey.