Jamescape transform the world of work through technology. They enable digital transformation through the development of bespoke digital solutions, including websites and web applications, to support organisations worldwide.
The company also turns organisations into truly inclusive workplaces that can recruit and retain disabled talent, centred around the UK Government’s Disability Confident scheme. Most recently, Jamescape have become the in-house A/V partner at CENTRAL TECH, an office and event space in Liverpool, where they improve the perceptions of organisations, internally and externally, through world-class technical event production and multimedia experiences. Here Jamescape’s Chief Operating Officer & EDI Project Officer, Zack Walker tells us more about his company’s accessibility journey.
What accessibility improvements have you made to your organisation?
“In 2023, we became a Disability Confident Leader accredited organisation following a thorough review of our recruitment and staff management practices, where we identified areas of our operations that weren’t accessible to disabled people. The key changes included:
“We’re proud to be leading the way as one of the few Liverpool-based Disability Confident Leader organisations, actively creating meaningful and paid opportunities for local disabled people where they can thrive in the workplace.”
What prompted you to make these improvements?
“Our founder, James Barber, has autism and dyspraxia, and most of the team is neurodivergent including the majority of senior leadership at Jamescape. Therefore, our team already understood the importance and value of being an equitable workplace, but we also understood that there’s always ways we can improve. We wanted to be genuinely inclusive, rather than just saying we were, so we were ready to put in the work. Disability Confident provided us a clear framework to make tangible improvements to our organisation and then helped us evidence the impact through staff reporting and independent validation.”
What impact has this made? Have you received more positive feedback from customers, has it helped staff, or increased visitor numbers?
“Gaining the Disability Confident Leader badge has helped raise our profile locally and nationally, proving to our network, supply chain, and applicants that we’re a genuinely inclusive workplace for disabled people. In our most recent staff survey, 62% of staff identified as disabled or as having a long-term health condition, which is over three times higher than the national rate of disabled people in the UK. Further, we saw very high staff satisfaction among this group, with 100% of staff saying they would recommend working at Jamescape to a friend.
“Since becoming accredited, when we recruit, we have the confidence that we’re providing a fair process for disabled talent, and we know we’re getting the best hire for the role. When we formed our Lived Experience Panel to help us deliver our Disability Confident services, we were ready to bring on 13 disabled staff members with varying conditions and reasonable adjustments because we had already laid the foundation of our inclusive workplace culture.”
What is one piece of advice you would give to organisations looking to improve their own accessibility?
“Workplace inclusion isn’t about scrapping and re-building your operations from the ground up. Sometimes a re-think is necessary, but more often it’s about making small and quick changes that create big impact. These ‘easy wins’ are improvements that any organisation can make in an afternoon, but tackle barriers faced by disabled people. For example, providing clear travel and arrival information for in-person interviews can support disabled applicants who may struggle with transport or new environments, and this can also support non-disabled applicants alike. It’s important to try to recognise any barriers and be open to making little changes throughout your organisation – small changes over a long time builds an inclusive workplace culture.”
What support, tools or guidance (if any) did you use to help you make these improvements?
“As mentioned, we used the UK Government’s Disability Confident scheme as a framework for our inclusivity journey. We saw both the good that Disability Confident can bring, but also the flaws with the scheme – lack of clear guidance, overly complex documentation, and lack of scrutiny. Through our consulting services, we aim to tackle all these issues and support organisations to achieve Disability Confident in an easy and streamlined way, whilst ensuring they get the most possible benefit from it. We want to see more organisations that can attract, recruit, and retain disabled people, particularly locally in Liverpool City Region. If you’re interested in how Jamescape can support your organisation, find out more and reach out today.”
Visit the Jamescape website HERE.