A COVENTRY University researcher has told MPs about what impact remote working has on disabled and neurodivergent people.
According to Dr Christine Grant, an associate professor at the university’s Research Centre for healthcare and communities, remote working is an overwhelmingly positive experience for these people.
She conducted extensive research and appeared before the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
The committee’s aim is to investigate how disabled people can be better supported to start and stay in work, and assess how effective the Government’s recent efforts have been in narrowing the employment gap.
Dr Grant launched the Remote4All project which includes a number of organisations including the NHS, Vodafone and neurobox.
She explained that remote working allows for many people to be more comfortable, less tired and being better able to control their environment.
Dr Grant said: “Remote working was found overwhelmingly to be a very positive accommodation for many in this group who said it improved their quality of life.
“Some of the practical things, saving time and money, the long commute, for some people was eliminated or reduced and this improvement in quality of life overall was found to be very important to this group.”
Adding that there is not a one size fits all approach and there needs to be manager support.
She added: “My hope is that the Committee will take on board the idea of developing a Line Manager Toolkit for disabled and/or neurodiverse remote workers, which is the focus of my next funded project.”
