Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Caroline Fox Of Tenth Revolution Group On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have a Disability

An Interview With Eric Pines

Take your time and do it properly rather than rushing a doing a bad job. Sensitivity is crucial in my line of work because we’re working to prevent harm and unfairness in the workplace. In this context, working thoughtfully is much more valuable than working quickly.

As we all know, over the past several years there has been a great deal of discussion about inclusion and diversity in the workplace. One aspect of inclusion that is not discussed enough, is how businesses can be inclusive of people with disabilities. We know that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. What exactly does this look like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Are Disabled “.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Caroline Fox.

Caroline Fox is the Global Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy Lead at Tenth Revolution Group. Caroline joined the cloud talent solutions firm in 2013 as part of the Talent Acquisition team and now leads the company’s EDI program, bolstering an inclusive workspace and promoting best practice within the wider tech industry.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are?

I joined the business in 2013 after completing a BA in Modern Languages and an MA in Interpreting and Translation. Although I started in Talent Acquisition, I’ve been fortunate enough to progress, relocate internationally, and move into a newly-created role as Global EDI Strategy Lead. The role come out of both my own personal interest and a company need for a more robust EDI strategy.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I’d highlight organization, patience, and pride. We’re a busy company, so a rigorous organizational system allows me to keep on top of difference projects and always know which to prioritize in any given moment. Patience has been key, particularly in my EDI role which is very different than my time in Talent Acquisition. In TA, I worked to high numerical targets that were set on a monthly basis, where my current role involves much longer-term projects with more qualitative goals. It can be difficult not being able to measure outcomes and impact in the same way, so being patient and trusting helps me keep perspective. Similarly, it’s easy to get caught up in the everyday bustle but I think it’s so important to step back periodically and take in the big picture — and take pride in what’s been achieved over a longer period of time. This can be a great way of resetting your motivation, too!

Can you share a story about one of your greatest work related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

I’ve always struggled with self-confidence, and taking on an entirely new role where I had no previous experience definitely brought up feelings of imposter syndrome that I still battle on a daily basis. As I mentioned, I try to look back at work I’ve done or contributed to. Taking stock like that reminds me that I have earned and do deserve my place in the business. The nature of my work in EDI also means that there’s always more to learn as discourse and research continue to develop in the space. It’s a job that’s never “done”, so embracing an “always learning” orientation has really helped with my confidence. I also exercise and practice mindfulness on a daily basis which helps me clear my mind, focus on my work, and trust in my abilities.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Gender equality is a big focus for us currently, and we’ve recently joined the United Nations Global Compact Target Gender Equality initiative which will support our journey to setting useful and relevant goals over the coming months. It’s also put me in touch with a new network of like-minded professionals across different regions and industries which is essential in EDI work. Internally, we’ve made progress recently with the introduction of our Balance coaching program aimed at supporting gender equality in leadership. We’re also partnering with a number of external organizations to promote this more widely across the IT industry. We’re beginning to do more work on social mobility as well, looking at how we can provide better opportunities for people from different social and economic backgrounds who are profoundly under-represented in tech.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to our discussion about inclusion. Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to promote Diversity and Inclusion? Can you share a story with us?

My experience has mainly been focused on embracing that idea that we’re all learning all the time, particularly when it comes to diversity and inclusion. I’ve been glad to be part of positive changes like our company EDI statements and promoting the use of inclusive language both internally and externally, while also looking forwards to further frontiers and keeping up with developments in relevant discourse.

This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have an inclusive work culture?

An inclusive work culture means creating a working environment in which everyone is able to thrive. A massive part of this is unpacking and unlearning unconscious bias, and working to be more sensitive to difference. In reality, people have different lived experience, and an inclusive culture is about acknowledging and making space for that.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what this looks like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Can you please share a few examples?

Accommodations are any adjustment put in place to remove or counteract a disadvantage someone may be experiencing in the work place. The point is to support everyone to reach their full potential in a role. Naturally, the nature of any accommodations depends on the situation and a person’s needs. Physical adjustments can include measures like ramps, automatic doors, toilet facilities, signage, as well as desk adjustments. At an event, accommodations might include aids and services like sign language interpreters or alternative formats for any materials such as braille or audio. Meeting someone’s sensory needs could involve considering lighting and ventilation, or ensuring a space away from too much background noise. Reasonable accommodations may be required for a range of reasons including, but not limited to physical disabilities, impairments, neurodivergence, long-term illness, and mental health.

Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? If you can, please share a few examples.

I’d emphasize collaboration and representation here. Consulting with disabled employees and enabling peer-to-peer support through social groups are both great ways to keep an open, ongoing dialogue around disability in the workplace. Completely top-down measures that don’t include disabled people in the development process can be problematic, whereas co-design tends to lead to better results for everyone. As far as representation, depicting people with disabilities in marketing materials and having leaders speak to the importance of disability inclusion are both important gestures. But it’s vital to back this up with disability-friendly policies and transparency. This can include ensuring marketing materials are accessible, using inclusive language, flexible working policies, publishing disability statistics, and of course being open to reasonable accommodation requests at all times (for existing, new, and prospective employees alike).

Can you share a few examples of ideas that were implemented at your workplace to help promote disability inclusion? Can you share with us how the work culture was impacted as a result?

We’re in the process of reviewing our full employee experience to ensure that we touch all parts of employee life cycle– including hiring, onboarding, training, performance management and progression. We’re also working to be more vocal about the fact that employees can request reasonable adjustments as many simply weren’t aware that we’re here to help them and were therefore missing out on support that could make a big difference to their day-to-day experience. Education, awareness, and again transparency about our EDI program have been important here. It’s also vital to make sure all our employees play a part in making our work environment as inclusive as possible so we have a number of inclusivity training modules that support our employees’ learning, understanding, and awareness of differences around them. Allyship is essential when it comes to making sure everyone feels comfortable at work and we believe that everyone is responsible and accountable for making this a reality.

This is our signature question that we ask in many of our interviews. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started My Career”?

1. You don’t have to know the answer to everything all the time. In EDI for example, so much of what matters is about ongoing learning and embodiment, rather than the idea of some fixed amount of knowledge you need to accumulate.
2. Take your time and do it properly rather than rushing a doing a bad job. Sensitivity is crucial in my line of work because we’re working to prevent harm and unfairness in the workplace. In this context, working thoughtfully is much more valuable than working quickly.
3. Your health and wellbeing are the most important things. Setting boundaries and drawing a line when your energy is spent means you come back much more productive and also enjoy it more.
4. Everyone can make a difference. As I mentioned above, an inclusive environment is our collective responsibility so every time even just one person works to change their behaviour or learns how to better support someone around them is a success.
5. Things change! I am the kind of person who likes to plan everything to the nth degree but in an EDI role the reality is that things move quickly. The three-year plan I wrote when I first started in this role still forms a loose basis to what I do but so much has been crossed out, added in, moved around and updated. Learning to adapt is essential.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

I’m not sure I can distil it down to a single quotation, but I’ve worked with so many inspiring people who have taken the time to mentor me and share their advice. This isn’t something I take for granted, and more than anything, what these folks have imparted to me is the idea that everyone starts somewhere. When someone shares something that they learnt earlier in their journey and how they learnt it, which usually involves a degree of vulnerability in admitting what they didn’t know, it’s a wonderful reminder that we’re all always learning — and that that’s okay.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

This is maybe not a movement as such, but in an ideal world my job shouldn’t exist. I would love to live in a world where EDI isn’t “a thing” because the conversation isn’t needed. This would mean a baseline where everyone is included and empowered to be their true authentic self without any risk of discrimination. We’re a long way from that reality still, which I think is sad because we should be celebrating and embracing our differences rather than rejecting them. I’d need a new job of course, but I think that’s a small price to pay.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Here’s my LinkedIn profile, https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinefoxtrg/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

Thanks!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.