Toolkit
KNA have put together a basic toolkit in how to set up or refresh a Disabled Employee Network or Disability Interest Group. This Toolkit is a suite of practical information which you can download and use and adapt to fit your employer needs. In addition to Disabled Employee Networks – a practical guide we have prepared some basic guidelines, templates and best practice papers to support you in your work.
The Blueprint
Disabled Employee Networks – a practical guide is a comprehensive guide on how to set-up, deliver and maintain a lively and purposeful network. Many employers shared their experiences in the production of the guide, which is endorsed by both the EFD and Radar. It is invaluable for those setting up or taking over an established Disabled Employee Network.
Key Q&As
Whether you are setting up a network for the first time or taking over a pre-existing network you might find it a good idea to stand back and make time to decide for yourself what is working well, and not so well. These top 10 most popular questions that we are asked may provide some food for thought and offer a steer in the questions you will need to address at some stage.
Three types of Network
Our research in 2008 and extensive work and interaction with over 200 networks, tells us that there are three main types of network. These guidelines describe the three main types and why it matters to get the purpose clear from day one. The purpose drives the activities and helps define what the outputs might look like.
Annual refresh checklist
Without an annual MOT a network can veer off course. This checklist of questions might provide an easy “do it yourself” audit to ensure that what the network set out to do is being done in the right way, within budget and within agreed timelines. This checklist is a simple way of routinely monitoring performance.
Aims & Objectives
Once a network has been established it is important to have a clear, simple and well-thought through aims and objectives plan. Networks can fall into the trap of loading the plan with tasks that do not fit with their mandate or impossible to achieve within agreed budget or drawdown. This template helps organise the network's plan and monitor progress.
10 point plan for new networks
If you don’t have time to read Disabled Employee Networks – a practical guide then this reminder of the 10 point plan for setting up a network makes essential reading. Whenever you attract new recruits to the core membership of the network – or steering committee, you may wish to provide a copy of the guide as well as this basic checklist.
Working with your disability champion
It is highly likely that your disability or diversity champion will be a senior figure and likely to have significant calls on their time and attention. These guidelines are a collection of hints and tips about how you can help support the champion to understand the key priorities for disabled people in the organisation and where to get greatest traction together.
Co-ordinator role description
This is a basic template of the role of a co-ordinator or chair of a Disabled Employee Network of Disability Interest Group. Choosing the right person with the right set of skills is an important task. This template will help you think through how you match the person with the task ahead - or even to check that you are the right person.
Values monitoring
Some networks create a set of values within which they may operate - this can be as simple as applying the organisations existing values to the network, and sometimes this is about building a specific set of values that the key stakeholders who run the network choose to operate within. This template offers an example of how a network may build a values-based approach to monitoring output.
Disability champion role description
The role of disability or diversity champion is a crucial one and the relationship between the champion and the network is important to get right. For a network to command respect at all levels of the organisation and to support the employer on the journey of change it is suggested the champion and network agree work-plans together.