CAN-ASC-1.1 Standard on employment: Public Review Draft - 1. Introduction
This Standard envisions a work environment that is accessible, inclusive, barrier-free, and discrimination-free to all workers, regardless of their lived experience with disabilities. To achieve this vision, this Standard shows value in a combination of both systemic and person-centred approaches. During their employment journey, persons with disabilities encounter numerous barriers to accessibility and inclusion in the work environment. These include, but are not limited to:
- transitional barriers (barriers accessing the work environment);
- attitudinal barriers (differential treatment and discrimination in the work environment);
- environmental barriers (barriers found within the work environment); and,
- ensuring work environment safety for all workers.
Several social, environmental, and individual factors affect the experiences that persons with disabilities have at various stages of the employment life cycle. These factors include, but are not limited to:
- the nature of the lived experience with disability;
- age of onset;
- intersectional identity;
- the size of the employer;
- type of workplace;
- type of work; and
- formal and informal policies and practices within the workplace.
1.1 Applicability to the employment life cycle
This Standard is grounded in the pillars of the “employment life-cycle” and aims to assist users of the Standard throughout all phases of the cycle, namely:
- recruitment;
- hiring;
- onboarding;
- retention;
- promotion and career development;
- performance management; and
- separation.
Productivity to an employer means having performing workers that contribute to the organizational mandate and success. Inclusive employment emphasizes and values diversity and representation in the workforce, leading to more meaningful worker engagement and motivation, and therefore a more productive and healthier workplace. This Standard examines how organizations identify, prevent, and remove barriers that persons with disabilities encounter within their employment journey. This Standard encourages the embedding of accessibility and disability confidence alongside diversity and representation in inclusive workplaces. This Standard is also designed to encourage employers to create workplaces that are “inclusive and accessible by design” and to raise employer awareness of the talents and abilities of those who have disabilities.
A systematic, proactive approach is promoted with continual improvement to enable employers to have a high-performing, inclusive labour force such that an employer can be at the forefront of inclusive employment. The concept of continual improvement involves recurring activities to enhance performance over time. Examples of these include the planning, implementation and evaluation of projects, programs, policies, and practices in the workplace. This Standard uses a proactive and systemic approach focused on facilitating workplaces where accessibility is embedded within the work environment, as well as based on individual accommodation.
The requirements within this Standard define a framework of systemic change through environmental solutions and policies to facilitate accessibility and inclusion in the workplace (see Clauses 5, 6, and 9):
- Clause 5 of this Standard focuses on structural support, policy, and leadership in organizations by emphasizing the development of systems, policies, and practices.
- Clause 6 discusses culture, engagement, and education within the workplace.
- Clause 9 highlights the Work disability management system and accessibility accommodations in the workplace.
This framework of systemic change is balanced by a person-centred, individualized approach to accessibility and accommodation throughout the employment journey (see Clauses 7, and 8).
- Clause 7 addresses identifying, preventing, and removing barriers encountered during recruitment, hiring and onboarding.
- Clause 8 addresses the identification, prevention and removal of barriers encountered in worker retention, professional development, pay equity (compensation), performance management and job separation.
Both approaches, taken together, are necessary to achieve a truly inclusive work environment. This Standard demonstrates that both approaches (the systemic approach and the person-centred approach) are required in equal measure (as opposed to one approach predominating over the other).
The framework outlined in the requirements clauses is summarized here for ease of understanding and potential use. Three overarching categories of policy are recommended:
- Accessibility policies (see Clauses 5, 6 and 8);
- Individualized accommodation policies (see Clauses 7 and 9); and
- Work disability management system (see Clause 9).
While there is some overlap among these three groups of policy, they are intended to be complementary to one another, and one cannot by itself take the place of all. A fourth policy framework, anti-ableism policies, is discussed in Annex E.
Informative annexes provide additional information and context on concepts presented within this Standard:
- Annex A (informative): Background and context to accessibility in the workplace;
- Annex B (informative): Lived experience with disability;
- Annex C (informative): Continual improvement;
- Annex D (informative): Intersectional accessibility lens;
- Annex E (informative): Anti-Ableism policies; and
- Annex F (informative): Stand-alone accessibility policies and accessibility elements integrated into existing policies.
In this Standard, “shall” is used to express a requirement; “should” is used to express a strong recommendation; and, “may” is used to express an option that the employer can implement to enhance the accessibility of the workplace.
1.2 Long-Range Objective
The long-range objective of this Standard is to establish and maintain accessible, inclusive, barrier-free, and discrimination-free employment for all people, irrespective of whether the worker lives with (a) disability(ies).
1.3 Purpose
The purpose of this Standard is to provide direction to employers and other workplace parties in achieving the long-range objective by identifying, preventing, and removing barriers. This allows all persons to fully and equitably participate in employment, whether or not the worker lives with (a) disability(ies).
1.4 Guiding Principles
The Standard will respect and be complementary to the principles, purpose, and requirements of the Accessible Canada Act. It will support the end goal of achieving accessibility for persons with disabilities. And it will consider the range of disabilities, the barriers, and any technical and fiscal considerations/impacts that may be associated with their implementation.
Source: Guiding principles a) through g) are extracted or adapted from the Accessible Canada Act:
- All persons are treated with dignity regardless of their disabilities.
- All persons have the same opportunity to lead for themselves the lives, and work, that they are able and wish to have, regardless of their disabilities (adapted from the Accessible Canada Act and the Canadian Human Rights Act).
- All persons have barrier-free access to full and equitable participation in the employment, regardless of their disabilities.
- All persons have meaningful work opportunities and are free to make their own choices, with support if they desire, regardless of their disabilities.
- Workplace policies, programs, services, and structures take into account the disabilities of persons, the different ways that persons interact with their environments, and the multiple and intersecting forms of marginalization and discrimination faced by persons with disabilities.
- Persons with disabilities are involved in the development and design of workplace policies, programs, services, and structures.
- Development and revision of accessibility standards and the making of regulations are done with the objective of achieving the highest level of accessibility for persons with disabilities.
Guiding principles (h) through (m) are extracted or adapted from the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Article 27 Work and Employment; and the Canadian Human Rights Act:
- Discrimination on the basis of disability is prohibited with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, including conditions of recruitment, hiring, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions.
- The rights of persons with disabilities, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances, are protected, on an equal basis with workers without disabilities.
- Persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others.
- Employment opportunities and career advancement are ensured for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining, and returning to employment.
- Reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace.
- Persons with disabilities acquire work experience in the labour market.
- Accessible employment is inclusive of all parts of the employment life cycle, and is applicable throughout the work environment, workplace location, and workforce.
- Intersectional identity is embedded in the development and design of workplace policies, programs, services, and structures.
- Continual improvement principles are embedded in the development and design of workplace policies, programs, services, and structures.
- Documents generated by the workplace are written in plain language and produced in accessible format to ensure that they are readable by everyone.
- Equitable processes to achieve full participation for all workers, whether or not they live with (a) disability(ies), within the workplace are used.
- Proactive approaches to identifying, preventing and removing barriers for persons with disabilities in the workplace are used in concert with reactive, needs-based approaches to create and maintain accessible, and inclusive workplaces.
- Accessible employment is in alignment with the principles and actions set out in the Calls to Action contained within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report (2015).