Disability, Mental Health & Wellbeing Report 2025/26
The following is our 2025/26 Disability, Mental Health & Wellbeing report, following the Voluntary Reporting Framework from the UK Government. As a Disability Confident Leader, we pledge to report on disability, mental health and wellbeing in our organisation every year.
Data Collection
In June 2026, we released an anonymous online form to all our staff to collect data on disability, mental health and wellbeing. We gave staff two weeks to complete the form and we asked staff the same questions as the recommended ones in the Voluntary Reporting Framework, in addition to some demographic questions.
At the point of survey, we had eight members of staff and received five submissions (62.5% response rate). The form was optional, anonymous, and open for two weeks. We used Jamescape’s platform, Confidently, to manage the survey, which automatically sends email reminders every few days to staff who have yet to complete it. Staff were also reminded twice in our weekly Slack bulletins. It’s worth noting that disabled staff were possibly more likely to respond to the survey compared to our non-disabled staff, due to a naturally higher interest in the subject matter, meaning that the results may be skewed.
Due to the size of the organisation, we will only provide top-level statistics, the minimum required by the Voluntary Reporting Framework, to avoid compromising the anonymity of individuals who completed the survey.
Disability
How we recruit and retain disabled staff members
Disabled people are a very underrepresented demographic in the technology industry. Despite 19% of the UK workforce having a disability, only 9% of IT specialists are disabled (BCS Insights Report, 2019).
We understand that applicants may research us prior to applying for a role with us, and we hope they would find our social media posts regarding disability inclusion in the workplace, showcasing our inclusive practices and celebrating our EDI-related (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) accreditations. We also have videos from some of our current staff talking about how they’ve been supported in the workplace as a disabled person on our recruitment web pages.
To support our recruitment efforts, our equality statement explicitly encourages applications from underrepresented demographics in the technology industry, such as women and disabled people. Harker has also implemented a Guaranteed Interview scheme across all job positions, meaning that disabled applicants will be offered an interview provided they meet the essential job criteria. In addition, we explicitly state that applicants do not have to disclose their disability to register for the scheme.
Throughout our interview stages, we score applicants against several pre-defined themes, for example, technical ability and situational awareness might be two themes. Scoring is carried out by a panel, and the average score is taken for each theme, to remove as much bias as possible. Points in these themes can be gained from any of the four components; namely, CV and/or supporting statement, interview, optional portfolio, and references. For example, if an applicant struggled with a question about programming, they could gain any lost points from a good example of that same programming aspect in a portfolio piece. Every theme has a maximum number of points which is attainable without submitting the optional component.
We believe this novel interview system has supported our recruitment efforts by allowing disabled applicants to engage in a more equitable recruitment process. For example, if an applicant had severe anxiety and struggled articulating their skillset in an interview, their portfolio of past projects could speak for itself. We proactively reach out to all interviewees via email to enquire about any reasonable adjustments they may need/want for their interview, with a link to a page on our website which explains reasonable adjustments and gives examples. Some applicants may have anxiety around reaching out to enquire about reasonable adjustments, so we have tackled this potential barrier. This page also provides clear information around dress code, the interview process, and arrival information for in-person interviews, including a photo of our meeting room so that applicants can get an idea of the space before they arrive.
In addition, we are proud that all staff members are paid at least the Real Living Wage, and we are committed to preventing any wage gaps between different demographics as the company grows. Harker is also an accredited Living Hours Employer, following best practice on offering secure working hours for our part-time staff. Further, we are a Liverpool City Region Fair Employment Charter Accredited level organisation, and an RNIB Visibly Better Employer, which both validate our employment practices as inclusive and fair. Most recently, we became a Care Leavers Covenant employer to provide an equitable recruitment process for care leavers and care experienced individuals.
To help us retain disabled staff, we have put several practices into place. For example, we have a disability disclosure system with two different levels of disclosure. Our on-boarding process allows staff to make disclosures to Team People (our HR department) and then a meeting will be arranged to discuss adjustments we can put into place to support them. Regular follow-up meetings are scheduled in the future to discuss and evaluate the adjustments and make any desired changes. The member of staff decides whether their Line Manager is informed of their disability. These disclosures are explicitly welcomed at any stage of employment; because we understand that firstly, people’s disability status can change and, secondly, new staff may be afraid of being disadvantaged or treated differently. If that is the case, our hope is that they would disclose at a later stage, once they feel comfortable, thanks to our open and friendly working environment.
In addition, we have created bespoke disability awareness training materials that all staff are required to complete as part of on-boarding. Topics include seen vs unseen disabilities, reasonable adjustments, neurodiversity, and how to support a disabled colleague (in terms of language and behaviour). Our hope is that this training will contribute towards fostering a supporting and welcoming environment to all staff.
Finally, during our regular policy reviews, we have explicitly embedded extra flexibility and consideration for our disabled staff. For example, we have added in extra consideration for disabled staff in terms of punctuality in our Adverse Weather & Travel Disruption Policy, as disability might disproportionally affect a person’s ability to travel. Embedding inclusivity into company policy is enabled by our neuroinclusive Core Team (all three members identify as neurodivergent) and is a key piece of best practice we have shared to our network via social media.
Reporting on Disability
According to our reporting results, 80% of respondents consider themselves to have a disability or long-term health condition, which is far higher than the national percentage of disabled working age people (around 20%). We are proud to have several disabled members of our team despite the small size of our organisation. More importantly, 2/3 of senior leadership at Harker identifies as disabled, which means that inclusion is at the heart of decision-making as we have lived experience at every seniority level.
We’re pleased to see that our work in promoting Harker as a Disability Confident Leader organisation has resulted in a higher workforce disability rate compared to our last reporting survey, where 42.9% of respondents identified as disabled or as having a long-term health condition. This demonstrates our strong on-going commitments to disability inclusion and the tangible impact it’s made in the recruitment and retention of disabled staff at Harker.
We hope that the practices we have put into place will continue to encourage disabled people to apply for our roles going forward. Harker is committed to creating an equitable working environment that welcomes and embraces a diverse team.
You can find our EDI pledge here.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
How we support staff with their mental health and wellbeing
Harker, since it was founded, has always adopted a flexible, hybrid, and asynchronous working model. This allows all staff to work where they want, when they want, however they work best. We are very flexible with giving staff breaks to recharge. Providing they can meet any pre-agreed deadlines, staff are allowed to choose their working hours and environment.
There is no requirement or expectation for staff to request remote working or an early/late finish, so there is no mechanism for this. This working practice is particularly inclusive for disabled staff, as it allows them to attend medical appointments without requiring formal permission, manage their condition according to their needs, and adjust their work schedule without having to go through bureaucratic processes. Staff can structure their work in a way that best accommodates their health requirements while maintaining productivity.
All staff can book 1-to-1 meetings with their Line Manager at any time to check-in and discuss their work. We have found that regularly touching base not only helps staff keep on track but also builds more open communication between Line Managers and their staff. We also build staff relationships through our regular programme of social events, helping to foster our casual and open company structure.
Our internal staff resource hub has a page that signposts staff to different mental health support services like Samaritans and Mind. In the future, we hope to offer staff a medical benefit pack which includes access to a 24/7 virtual GP, a dental plan, counselling sessions, and a fitness app which encourages staff to stay active with weekly company leaderboard of steps.
Reporting on mental health and wellbeing
All five of our respondents answered every question surrounding mental health and wellbeing. Generally, the mental health of our staff is at a good standard. The average rating for the question ‘Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?’ was 7.4/10. When asked ‘Overall, to what extent do you feel that things you do in your life are worthwhile?’ the average rating was 7.8/10. These results are slightly lower than, but still similar to, our last staff survey. We had a high degree of variance in these results, with one wellbeing question having a range of 5 between the highest and lowest response.
Similarly, we saw mixed scores regarding staff happiness (average response 6.6/10 when asked ‘How happy did you feel yesterday?’), and staff anxiety (average response 6.4/10 when asked ‘How anxious did you feel yesterday?’).
Staff are highly satisfied with their job at Harker, responding with an average of 8.2/10 when asked ‘All in all, how satisfied are you with your job?’, with a very low degree of variance showing consistency with this view amongst team members. 100% of respondents claimed they would recommend Harker as a great place to work.
Physical health among respondents seems to also be mixed, as the question ‘How would you rate your overall physical health now?’ had an average rating of 6/10. Overall mental health is similar with an average rating of 6/10. These responses imply that while our staff’s mental and physical health is mixed, working at Harker does not have a negative impact on their wellbeing. While employment is only one factor for a person’s mental health, we would like to think that Harker’s strong social mission to build software for homelessness services helps staff feel like their work is valuable, as opposed to working at a typical corporation.
100% of respondents indicated that they felt safe from threats and physical hazards at work, and are satisfied with their physical working environment. We are proud of this result as we work hard to ensure our office space is an accessible, clean, and comfortable place to work.
In terms of support, 100% of respondents believed that their colleagues supported them well at work and 80% of respondents believed their Line Manager supported them well at work, with the remaining respondent selecting ‘Somewhat’ as an answer. Again, we are very proud of this result as we put a significant effort into building and fostering a supportive working environment.
Notably, when looking at just the subset of respondents who identified as disabled and/or as having a long-term health condition, the responses are generally similar to the overall respondent average. This indicates that our disabled staff are not disproportionally affected by our workplace practices. Similarly, when looking at the subset of respondents who identified as female, the responses are similar to the overall average scores. Increasing gender diversity within our team has been a goal for us, so this is a positive result to see that we’re supporting our female staff at Harker. In terms of ethnicity, 100% of respondents identified as British (English, Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish). We’re aware that we lack race diversity at Harker and this is something we’re working to improve.
The results of our reporting survey paint a diverse team (in terms of disability) with a mixed standard of mental and physical wellbeing. Overall, we are proud of these results, as they highlight that our workplace adjustments and flexible management style leads to a happy, healthy team. That said, we see that we need to do more work to improve the consistency of Line Manager support, along with our race diversity in the team. We pledge to continuously review, evaluate, and update our practice whilst putting the wellbeing of our staff first, as we believe people work their best when they feel safe and happy.
The following is our 2025/26 Disability, Mental Health & Wellbeing report, following the Voluntary Reporting Framework from the UK Government. As a Disability Confident Leader, we pledge to report on disability, mental health and wellbeing in our organisation every year.
Data Collection
In June 2026, we released an anonymous online form to all our staff to collect data on disability, mental health and wellbeing. We gave staff two weeks to complete the form and we asked staff the same questions as the recommended ones in the Voluntary Reporting Framework, in addition to some demographic questions.
At the point of survey, we had eight members of staff and received five submissions (62.5% response rate). The form was optional, anonymous, and open for two weeks. We used Jamescape’s platform, Confidently, to manage the survey, which automatically sends email reminders every few days to staff who have yet to complete it. Staff were also reminded twice in our weekly Slack bulletins. It’s worth noting that disabled staff were possibly more likely to respond to the survey compared to our non-disabled staff, due to a naturally higher interest in the subject matter, meaning that the results may be skewed.
Due to the size of the organisation, we will only provide top-level statistics, the minimum required by the Voluntary Reporting Framework, to avoid compromising the anonymity of individuals who completed the survey.
Disability
How we recruit and retain disabled staff members
Disabled people are a very underrepresented demographic in the technology industry. Despite 19% of the UK workforce having a disability, only 9% of IT specialists are disabled (BCS Insights Report, 2019).
We understand that applicants may research us prior to applying for a role with us, and we hope they would find our social media posts regarding disability inclusion in the workplace, showcasing our inclusive practices and celebrating our EDI-related (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) accreditations. We also have videos from some of our current staff talking about how they’ve been supported in the workplace as a disabled person on our recruitment web pages.
To support our recruitment efforts, our equality statement explicitly encourages applications from underrepresented demographics in the technology industry, such as women and disabled people. Harker has also implemented a Guaranteed Interview scheme across all job positions, meaning that disabled applicants will be offered an interview provided they meet the essential job criteria. In addition, we explicitly state that applicants do not have to disclose their disability to register for the scheme.
Throughout our interview stages, we score applicants against several pre-defined themes, for example, technical ability and situational awareness might be two themes. Scoring is carried out by a panel, and the average score is taken for each theme, to remove as much bias as possible. Points in these themes can be gained from any of the four components; namely, CV and/or supporting statement, interview, optional portfolio, and references. For example, if an applicant struggled with a question about programming, they could gain any lost points from a good example of that same programming aspect in a portfolio piece. Every theme has a maximum number of points which is attainable without submitting the optional component.
We believe this novel interview system has supported our recruitment efforts by allowing disabled applicants to engage in a more equitable recruitment process. For example, if an applicant had severe anxiety and struggled articulating their skillset in an interview, their portfolio of past projects could speak for itself. We proactively reach out to all interviewees via email to enquire about any reasonable adjustments they may need/want for their interview, with a link to a page on our website which explains reasonable adjustments and gives examples. Some applicants may have anxiety around reaching out to enquire about reasonable adjustments, so we have tackled this potential barrier. This page also provides clear information around dress code, the interview process, and arrival information for in-person interviews, including a photo of our meeting room so that applicants can get an idea of the space before they arrive.
In addition, we are proud that all staff members are paid at least the Real Living Wage, and we are committed to preventing any wage gaps between different demographics as the company grows. Harker is also an accredited Living Hours Employer, following best practice on offering secure working hours for our part-time staff. Further, we are a Liverpool City Region Fair Employment Charter Accredited level organisation, and an RNIB Visibly Better Employer, which both validate our employment practices as inclusive and fair. Most recently, we became a Care Leavers Covenant employer to provide an equitable recruitment process for care leavers and care experienced individuals.
To help us retain disabled staff, we have put several practices into place. For example, we have a disability disclosure system with two different levels of disclosure. Our on-boarding process allows staff to make disclosures to Team People (our HR department) and then a meeting will be arranged to discuss adjustments we can put into place to support them. Regular follow-up meetings are scheduled in the future to discuss and evaluate the adjustments and make any desired changes. The member of staff decides whether their Line Manager is informed of their disability. These disclosures are explicitly welcomed at any stage of employment; because we understand that firstly, people’s disability status can change and, secondly, new staff may be afraid of being disadvantaged or treated differently. If that is the case, our hope is that they would disclose at a later stage, once they feel comfortable, thanks to our open and friendly working environment.
In addition, we have created bespoke disability awareness training materials that all staff are required to complete as part of on-boarding. Topics include seen vs unseen disabilities, reasonable adjustments, neurodiversity, and how to support a disabled colleague (in terms of language and behaviour). Our hope is that this training will contribute towards fostering a supporting and welcoming environment to all staff.
Finally, during our regular policy reviews, we have explicitly embedded extra flexibility and consideration for our disabled staff. For example, we have added in extra consideration for disabled staff in terms of punctuality in our Adverse Weather & Travel Disruption Policy, as disability might disproportionally affect a person’s ability to travel. Embedding inclusivity into company policy is enabled by our neuroinclusive Core Team (all three members identify as neurodivergent) and is a key piece of best practice we have shared to our network via social media.
Reporting on Disability
According to our reporting results, 80% of respondents consider themselves to have a disability or long-term health condition, which is far higher than the national percentage of disabled working age people (around 20%). We are proud to have several disabled members of our team despite the small size of our organisation. More importantly, 2/3 of senior leadership at Harker identifies as disabled, which means that inclusion is at the heart of decision-making as we have lived experience at every seniority level.
We’re pleased to see that our work in promoting Harker as a Disability Confident Leader organisation has resulted in a higher workforce disability rate compared to our last reporting survey, where 42.9% of respondents identified as disabled or as having a long-term health condition. This demonstrates our strong on-going commitments to disability inclusion and the tangible impact it’s made in the recruitment and retention of disabled staff at Harker.
We hope that the practices we have put into place will continue to encourage disabled people to apply for our roles going forward. Harker is committed to creating an equitable working environment that welcomes and embraces a diverse team.
You can find our EDI pledge here.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
How we support staff with their mental health and wellbeing
Harker, since it was founded, has always adopted a flexible, hybrid, and asynchronous working model. This allows all staff to work where they want, when they want, however they work best. We are very flexible with giving staff breaks to recharge. Providing they can meet any pre-agreed deadlines, staff are allowed to choose their working hours and environment.
There is no requirement or expectation for staff to request remote working or an early/late finish, so there is no mechanism for this. This working practice is particularly inclusive for disabled staff, as it allows them to attend medical appointments without requiring formal permission, manage their condition according to their needs, and adjust their work schedule without having to go through bureaucratic processes. Staff can structure their work in a way that best accommodates their health requirements while maintaining productivity.
All staff can book 1-to-1 meetings with their Line Manager at any time to check-in and discuss their work. We have found that regularly touching base not only helps staff keep on track but also builds more open communication between Line Managers and their staff. We also build staff relationships through our regular programme of social events, helping to foster our casual and open company structure.
Our internal staff resource hub has a page that signposts staff to different mental health support services like Samaritans and Mind. In the future, we hope to offer staff a medical benefit pack which includes access to a 24/7 virtual GP, a dental plan, counselling sessions, and a fitness app which encourages staff to stay active with weekly company leaderboard of steps.
Reporting on mental health and wellbeing
All five of our respondents answered every question surrounding mental health and wellbeing. Generally, the mental health of our staff is at a good standard. The average rating for the question ‘Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?’ was 7.4/10. When asked ‘Overall, to what extent do you feel that things you do in your life are worthwhile?’ the average rating was 7.8/10. These results are slightly lower than, but still similar to, our last staff survey. We had a high degree of variance in these results, with one wellbeing question having a range of 5 between the highest and lowest response.
Similarly, we saw mixed scores regarding staff happiness (average response 6.6/10 when asked ‘How happy did you feel yesterday?’), and staff anxiety (average response 6.4/10 when asked ‘How anxious did you feel yesterday?’).
Staff are highly satisfied with their job at Harker, responding with an average of 8.2/10 when asked ‘All in all, how satisfied are you with your job?’, with a very low degree of variance showing consistency with this view amongst team members. 100% of respondents claimed they would recommend Harker as a great place to work.
Physical health among respondents seems to also be mixed, as the question ‘How would you rate your overall physical health now?’ had an average rating of 6/10. Overall mental health is similar with an average rating of 6/10. These responses imply that while our staff’s mental and physical health is mixed, working at Harker does not have a negative impact on their wellbeing. While employment is only one factor for a person’s mental health, we would like to think that Harker’s strong social mission to build software for homelessness services helps staff feel like their work is valuable, as opposed to working at a typical corporation.
100% of respondents indicated that they felt safe from threats and physical hazards at work, and are satisfied with their physical working environment. We are proud of this result as we work hard to ensure our office space is an accessible, clean, and comfortable place to work.
In terms of support, 100% of respondents believed that their colleagues supported them well at work and 80% of respondents believed their Line Manager supported them well at work, with the remaining respondent selecting ‘Somewhat’ as an answer. Again, we are very proud of this result as we put a significant effort into building and fostering a supportive working environment.
Notably, when looking at just the subset of respondents who identified as disabled and/or as having a long-term health condition, the responses are generally similar to the overall respondent average. This indicates that our disabled staff are not disproportionally affected by our workplace practices. Similarly, when looking at the subset of respondents who identified as female, the responses are similar to the overall average scores. Increasing gender diversity within our team has been a goal for us, so this is a positive result to see that we’re supporting our female staff at Harker. In terms of ethnicity, 100% of respondents identified as British (English, Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish). We’re aware that we lack race diversity at Harker and this is something we’re working to improve.
The results of our reporting survey paint a diverse team (in terms of disability) with a mixed standard of mental and physical wellbeing. Overall, we are proud of these results, as they highlight that our workplace adjustments and flexible management style leads to a happy, healthy team. That said, we see that we need to do more work to improve the consistency of Line Manager support, along with our race diversity in the team. We pledge to continuously review, evaluate, and update our practice whilst putting the wellbeing of our staff first, as we believe people work their best when they feel safe and happy.
The following is our 2025/26 Disability, Mental Health & Wellbeing report, following the Voluntary Reporting Framework from the UK Government. As a Disability Confident Leader, we pledge to report on disability, mental health and wellbeing in our organisation every year.
Data Collection
In June 2026, we released an anonymous online form to all our staff to collect data on disability, mental health and wellbeing. We gave staff two weeks to complete the form and we asked staff the same questions as the recommended ones in the Voluntary Reporting Framework, in addition to some demographic questions.
At the point of survey, we had eight members of staff and received five submissions (62.5% response rate). The form was optional, anonymous, and open for two weeks. We used Jamescape’s platform, Confidently, to manage the survey, which automatically sends email reminders every few days to staff who have yet to complete it. Staff were also reminded twice in our weekly Slack bulletins. It’s worth noting that disabled staff were possibly more likely to respond to the survey compared to our non-disabled staff, due to a naturally higher interest in the subject matter, meaning that the results may be skewed.
Due to the size of the organisation, we will only provide top-level statistics, the minimum required by the Voluntary Reporting Framework, to avoid compromising the anonymity of individuals who completed the survey.
Disability
How we recruit and retain disabled staff members
Disabled people are a very underrepresented demographic in the technology industry. Despite 19% of the UK workforce having a disability, only 9% of IT specialists are disabled (BCS Insights Report, 2019).
We understand that applicants may research us prior to applying for a role with us, and we hope they would find our social media posts regarding disability inclusion in the workplace, showcasing our inclusive practices and celebrating our EDI-related (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) accreditations. We also have videos from some of our current staff talking about how they’ve been supported in the workplace as a disabled person on our recruitment web pages.
To support our recruitment efforts, our equality statement explicitly encourages applications from underrepresented demographics in the technology industry, such as women and disabled people. Harker has also implemented a Guaranteed Interview scheme across all job positions, meaning that disabled applicants will be offered an interview provided they meet the essential job criteria. In addition, we explicitly state that applicants do not have to disclose their disability to register for the scheme.
Throughout our interview stages, we score applicants against several pre-defined themes, for example, technical ability and situational awareness might be two themes. Scoring is carried out by a panel, and the average score is taken for each theme, to remove as much bias as possible. Points in these themes can be gained from any of the four components; namely, CV and/or supporting statement, interview, optional portfolio, and references. For example, if an applicant struggled with a question about programming, they could gain any lost points from a good example of that same programming aspect in a portfolio piece. Every theme has a maximum number of points which is attainable without submitting the optional component.
We believe this novel interview system has supported our recruitment efforts by allowing disabled applicants to engage in a more equitable recruitment process. For example, if an applicant had severe anxiety and struggled articulating their skillset in an interview, their portfolio of past projects could speak for itself. We proactively reach out to all interviewees via email to enquire about any reasonable adjustments they may need/want for their interview, with a link to a page on our website which explains reasonable adjustments and gives examples. Some applicants may have anxiety around reaching out to enquire about reasonable adjustments, so we have tackled this potential barrier. This page also provides clear information around dress code, the interview process, and arrival information for in-person interviews, including a photo of our meeting room so that applicants can get an idea of the space before they arrive.
In addition, we are proud that all staff members are paid at least the Real Living Wage, and we are committed to preventing any wage gaps between different demographics as the company grows. Harker is also an accredited Living Hours Employer, following best practice on offering secure working hours for our part-time staff. Further, we are a Liverpool City Region Fair Employment Charter Accredited level organisation, and an RNIB Visibly Better Employer, which both validate our employment practices as inclusive and fair. Most recently, we became a Care Leavers Covenant employer to provide an equitable recruitment process for care leavers and care experienced individuals.
To help us retain disabled staff, we have put several practices into place. For example, we have a disability disclosure system with two different levels of disclosure. Our on-boarding process allows staff to make disclosures to Team People (our HR department) and then a meeting will be arranged to discuss adjustments we can put into place to support them. Regular follow-up meetings are scheduled in the future to discuss and evaluate the adjustments and make any desired changes. The member of staff decides whether their Line Manager is informed of their disability. These disclosures are explicitly welcomed at any stage of employment; because we understand that firstly, people’s disability status can change and, secondly, new staff may be afraid of being disadvantaged or treated differently. If that is the case, our hope is that they would disclose at a later stage, once they feel comfortable, thanks to our open and friendly working environment.
In addition, we have created bespoke disability awareness training materials that all staff are required to complete as part of on-boarding. Topics include seen vs unseen disabilities, reasonable adjustments, neurodiversity, and how to support a disabled colleague (in terms of language and behaviour). Our hope is that this training will contribute towards fostering a supporting and welcoming environment to all staff.
Finally, during our regular policy reviews, we have explicitly embedded extra flexibility and consideration for our disabled staff. For example, we have added in extra consideration for disabled staff in terms of punctuality in our Adverse Weather & Travel Disruption Policy, as disability might disproportionally affect a person’s ability to travel. Embedding inclusivity into company policy is enabled by our neuroinclusive Core Team (all three members identify as neurodivergent) and is a key piece of best practice we have shared to our network via social media.
Reporting on Disability
According to our reporting results, 80% of respondents consider themselves to have a disability or long-term health condition, which is far higher than the national percentage of disabled working age people (around 20%). We are proud to have several disabled members of our team despite the small size of our organisation. More importantly, 2/3 of senior leadership at Harker identifies as disabled, which means that inclusion is at the heart of decision-making as we have lived experience at every seniority level.
We’re pleased to see that our work in promoting Harker as a Disability Confident Leader organisation has resulted in a higher workforce disability rate compared to our last reporting survey, where 42.9% of respondents identified as disabled or as having a long-term health condition. This demonstrates our strong on-going commitments to disability inclusion and the tangible impact it’s made in the recruitment and retention of disabled staff at Harker.
We hope that the practices we have put into place will continue to encourage disabled people to apply for our roles going forward. Harker is committed to creating an equitable working environment that welcomes and embraces a diverse team.
You can find our EDI pledge here.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
How we support staff with their mental health and wellbeing
Harker, since it was founded, has always adopted a flexible, hybrid, and asynchronous working model. This allows all staff to work where they want, when they want, however they work best. We are very flexible with giving staff breaks to recharge. Providing they can meet any pre-agreed deadlines, staff are allowed to choose their working hours and environment.
There is no requirement or expectation for staff to request remote working or an early/late finish, so there is no mechanism for this. This working practice is particularly inclusive for disabled staff, as it allows them to attend medical appointments without requiring formal permission, manage their condition according to their needs, and adjust their work schedule without having to go through bureaucratic processes. Staff can structure their work in a way that best accommodates their health requirements while maintaining productivity.
All staff can book 1-to-1 meetings with their Line Manager at any time to check-in and discuss their work. We have found that regularly touching base not only helps staff keep on track but also builds more open communication between Line Managers and their staff. We also build staff relationships through our regular programme of social events, helping to foster our casual and open company structure.
Our internal staff resource hub has a page that signposts staff to different mental health support services like Samaritans and Mind. In the future, we hope to offer staff a medical benefit pack which includes access to a 24/7 virtual GP, a dental plan, counselling sessions, and a fitness app which encourages staff to stay active with weekly company leaderboard of steps.
Reporting on mental health and wellbeing
All five of our respondents answered every question surrounding mental health and wellbeing. Generally, the mental health of our staff is at a good standard. The average rating for the question ‘Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?’ was 7.4/10. When asked ‘Overall, to what extent do you feel that things you do in your life are worthwhile?’ the average rating was 7.8/10. These results are slightly lower than, but still similar to, our last staff survey. We had a high degree of variance in these results, with one wellbeing question having a range of 5 between the highest and lowest response.
Similarly, we saw mixed scores regarding staff happiness (average response 6.6/10 when asked ‘How happy did you feel yesterday?’), and staff anxiety (average response 6.4/10 when asked ‘How anxious did you feel yesterday?’).
Staff are highly satisfied with their job at Harker, responding with an average of 8.2/10 when asked ‘All in all, how satisfied are you with your job?’, with a very low degree of variance showing consistency with this view amongst team members. 100% of respondents claimed they would recommend Harker as a great place to work.
Physical health among respondents seems to also be mixed, as the question ‘How would you rate your overall physical health now?’ had an average rating of 6/10. Overall mental health is similar with an average rating of 6/10. These responses imply that while our staff’s mental and physical health is mixed, working at Harker does not have a negative impact on their wellbeing. While employment is only one factor for a person’s mental health, we would like to think that Harker’s strong social mission to build software for homelessness services helps staff feel like their work is valuable, as opposed to working at a typical corporation.
100% of respondents indicated that they felt safe from threats and physical hazards at work, and are satisfied with their physical working environment. We are proud of this result as we work hard to ensure our office space is an accessible, clean, and comfortable place to work.
In terms of support, 100% of respondents believed that their colleagues supported them well at work and 80% of respondents believed their Line Manager supported them well at work, with the remaining respondent selecting ‘Somewhat’ as an answer. Again, we are very proud of this result as we put a significant effort into building and fostering a supportive working environment.
Notably, when looking at just the subset of respondents who identified as disabled and/or as having a long-term health condition, the responses are generally similar to the overall respondent average. This indicates that our disabled staff are not disproportionally affected by our workplace practices. Similarly, when looking at the subset of respondents who identified as female, the responses are similar to the overall average scores. Increasing gender diversity within our team has been a goal for us, so this is a positive result to see that we’re supporting our female staff at Harker. In terms of ethnicity, 100% of respondents identified as British (English, Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish). We’re aware that we lack race diversity at Harker and this is something we’re working to improve.
The results of our reporting survey paint a diverse team (in terms of disability) with a mixed standard of mental and physical wellbeing. Overall, we are proud of these results, as they highlight that our workplace adjustments and flexible management style leads to a happy, healthy team. That said, we see that we need to do more work to improve the consistency of Line Manager support, along with our race diversity in the team. We pledge to continuously review, evaluate, and update our practice whilst putting the wellbeing of our staff first, as we believe people work their best when they feel safe and happy.