DEI expert interview: Brit Pickering (NESO)

July marks the 10th anniversary of Disability Pride Month in the UK. In this article, we speak to Brit Pickering about her role as diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) manager at National Energy Systems Operator (NESO) and what it means to partner with the Disability Confident scheme.

Q: Please explain the history of the Disability Confident scheme at NESO

The DEIB team was formed in May 2024 and we have focused on establishing a strong belonging culture – part of this was becoming Disability Confident and being clear on the processes involved.
It has been exciting, and it is something we have really had to work on. There was lots going on in support of Disability Confident, but we needed to bring it together.

We had to decide where it sits, who leads it, understand how we make sure we are creating change, while making sure we recognise the limitations of Disability Confident, but also the huge positives it can bring. Also, we made the leadership team aware of the time it is going to take and the potential costs it might incur.

Q: How much did the organisation know about the scheme?

Our leadership team is heavily involved in DEIB and are hands-on, making it clear that they support Disability Confident while asking what actions we are taking, how we are creating a change and asking what we expect from our colleagues. 

It is an ongoing process and because more colleagues within NESO are declaring that they have a disability, it is so much more on their minds. Managers are now more aware of what Disability Confident is and what support looks like. 

It's great that organisations go through the process of trying to achieve the Disability Confident levels, but are you actually trying to create a culture change? You need to ask whether you have simply ticked it off the list rather than implementing actual culture changes.  For us, it was about more than the badge.

Q: Are you using the disability confidence scheme as a tracker for the work you want to do?

Yes. For example, for level one, it’s about how you recruit and how you promote vacancies, disability interview schemes and reasonable adjustments. 

Yes, we have a reasonable adjustment policy – but can and are people using it? Are they aware of it? Does it work in practice? We know that Disability Confident doesn’t cover everything and is just part of our inclusion journey but it is a great starting point and something I would encourage organisations to do.

Q: Have you got examples of reasonable adjustments you have implemented?

There are different parts to this – one is what reasonable adjustments you put in place and two, how does the organisation implement them? You also need to ask whether the culture has an appetite for reasonable adjustments. If we take flexible working, or working from home, is your business ready for that? Also, quiet workspaces have been important for people with neurodiversity. Do you have the right set-up at home and is your business willing to pay for that? It’s great to have a flexible working policy and encourage people to do hours that work for them, but if your manager doesn’t allow you to do that, then that policy is redundant. 

We are looking into whether we standardise reasonable adjustments, so that everyone who needs them can use them. But if your culture isn’t ready for the reasonable adjustments, and if your business isn’t supportive, or your managers aren’t encouraging people to take up the adjustments, don’t tell people you have reasonable adjustments, because you don’t.

Q: Who does the scheme affect and what is the impact?

I see it impacting three groups – it impacts colleagues who have disclosed a disability, or maybe those that don’t feel comfortable to disclose yet but can use the resources or information that we are putting out.

It also impacts line managers and HR because they need to be equipped with the knowledge and resources so they can share the knowledge and resources their teams. A control room that works 24/7, 365 days a year is likely to need different resources and is going to look different to a people team working nine to five. 

Disability Confident also impacts the organisation because we improve culture and retention – we see fewer disabled colleagues leave the business, which is obviously brilliant, and that is what we are after. As a result, we get people who have different frames of reference and have different life experiences, which means we get more new ideas, more exciting things going on within the organisation and it helps us meet our purpose. 

So, it fits with three different groups – I really struggle when people say it only impacts disabled colleagues because so many people benefit from an organisation being Disability Confident – so many people benefit from flexible working and having interview questions in advance, so many people across the globe benefit from being able to work from home. Yes, it was brought in for a reason, but it has so many benefits for everyone. We need to change the narrative that it only benefits disabled colleagues because it is much more than that and that should encourage everyone to be invested and drive it forward. Disability inclusion is the right thing to do.

Q: A one-size-fits-all approach will not serve everyone – how do you meet the needs of all employees?

We have been doing a lot of work with line managers about how one person with a disability and another with the exact same condition will not be impacted in the same way. I have ADHD and I am really open about it and have a fidget toy with me all the time. I have a friend who also has ADHD who is the complete opposite to me and if you gave us the same reasonable adjustments, they just wouldn’t work. And bear in mind that some days, symptoms are worse than others.

Have you asked the person what they need? Are you tracking it to ensure it works? We have used our employee resource group (ERG) to advocate and to shout about the differences in disability and how it's not a one-size-fits-all approach, and that’s okay. It’s about talking to managers and telling them we don’t expect them to get it right all the time. It requires feedback loops and experience sharing, which comes with psychological safety. 

A lot of managers say they’re scared that they’ll get it wrong so they don’t say anything but that is so much worse. It’s better to go into a conversation recognising your privilege, your power imbalance, but also that if you get it wrong, that wasn’t the intention because you want to help them. Make clear that the conversation is about how to work together to find what is best for the person. We can’t expect our managers to get it right all the time.  

Q: What’s the journey been in terms of delivering change?

Our employability lead started the process, and this was before the DEIB team was formed. She asked for our help and we became a working group of like-minded people who genuinely care. 

Disability Confident is so structured that you can’t just go in and say, “I’ll do a bit of this, and a bit of that.” No – we need to focus and get it right and hold people to account while making sure it is sustainable. It is not sustainable when one person drives something forward, because they get burnt out and start to resent it and then the organisation.

The fact I have the knowledge and have done it in a previous business means I’m taking them on a journey with me and coaching them through the process so they can then do the same. This means that when it gets to level two and level three, I can be a bit more hands-off and encourage others to drive it forward, developing their skills and knowledge. 

It is now embedded, so, for example, if our lift breaks, we have a contingency plan in place, rather than it being an afterthought. When embedding change and changing policy and practice we need to make sure we have disabled voices in the room. Disability Confident is more than an award, its about living and breathing those changes.

Q: What is end point of the process?

I don’t think we will ever get to that point because people develop and people grow, so this will always be needed and will look slightly different for different people.  

I would like to get to a point where as a team we get level three, where it is just part of people’s minds. It’s embedded into the organisation and changes just happen, it doesn’t need to be a process. 

What does success look like? It’s getting to level two and three, it’s our disabled colleagues thriving and staying in work, seeing more disabled colleagues join the organisation and seeing openly disabled leaders. 

Q: Are you tracking success? If so, how?

We track via the Disability Confident process, but we also track the recruitment data and looking at application-to-hires. We also talk about types of disability. For instance, are we hiring a high population of people with ADHD but fewer people with physical disabilities? If we are, that’s not Disability Confident. There’s not a problem with having a higher population with neurodiverse conditions but what about physical disabilities? Has that been there the whole time and we are ignoring it? We are trying to bring them both together and not just do what we’ve always done.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge NESO has faced with implementing and rolling out the scheme?

At the start, it was quite intense. DEIB fatigue was also challenging – it seems across the globe some people are really sick of hearing about it, because of the way it has been portrayed in the political and social climate at the moment and we have to recognise that. 

Also, it’s about how you navigate complex systems like access to work and occupational health. If you’re a first-time leader and have an employee who needs to go through a referral service, if nobody has ever taught you how to do that, how do you do it? Our line managers do genuinely care so it was, and still is, about educating and raising awareness of our policies, processes and how to implement them within their teams.

As well as this, there are challenges around the right people leading initiatives such as Disability Confident, and the amount of time needed to deliver – it’s always underestimated just how much time is needed. This is something you need to clearly communicate to your leadership team so influencing skills are always useful. I’m really grateful that our Executive Leadership Team is really supportive and always want to get involved and help. They are very visible spokespeople for DEIB.

There is also a stigma around the word ‘disability’. Some colleagues are open and say, yes, I have a disability, some people in the organisation will say they don’t want to talk about it because they don’t know how you’re going to react to them and have fear that it may impact their role. And then, you have people who are part of the disability category, but will say that it’s not applicable to them, so how do you give them the support to everyone when not everyone is open?

If somebody has a disability, let’s talk about it, we do genuinely want to help and that is easier when you know. But I recognise my privilege when I say that.

We really need to hear disabled voices, which is why our Disability Confident working group has a wide range of disabled voices to help us understand what people want and how we can help. When we are trying to push out an organisational-wide scheme, such as Disability Confident, we need those voices. Yes, I am disabled, but not physically disabled, so it isn’t right for me to comment on what support or adjustments would work for our colleagues with a physical disability.

Q: Have you had feedback from employees who have benefited from this shift within your organisation?

Yes, we have had people say it feels different, which is great, and I really enjoy hearing that. People know we can talk about accessibility – it’s not a taboo subject. We have been shouting about it and trying to remove the stigma from the word. We have been speaking about the impact disabilities can have on colleagues but also showing how reasonable adjustments help colleagues do their role. Colleagues also say they know Disability Confident is being taken seriously. 

In NESO’s leadership training, we have a conversation where we talk about scenarios where reasonable adjustments have been made and look at where that conversation went well, where it went wrong and what did they recommend. As we make changes to our recruitment process, it would be nice to back up the feeling with numbers. Within the DEIB space we need to have both the qualitative and quantitative, because how can we know if our changes are having a positive impact?
 

Q: What advice would you give to businesses who want to become Disability Confident?

Number one is to be realistic – this is not a process that takes five minutes. It will take time to implement change. Don’t compare your chapter one to someone’s chapter 10 – getting advice and feedback from those people is really useful, but remember that you will only be able to use some of it because organisations are different, they have different budgets, different executive levels of support and so on.

Second is to get the right people involved – don’t just get the person who shouts the loudest. Get people who care and want to make a difference and who have the knowledge of how to do it – or get the knowledge from external partners who understand Disability Confident and how to implement it. It’s not an easy process and can take a long time so you need someone who understands the process and what it looks like.

Finally, speak to disabled voices. Ask people what it means for them and why it is important. What are they seeing? Disability Confident isn’t always the answer but it is a journey to the answer – you could be Disability Confident level three and still have massive holes within your organisation as to what’s going wrong, so you need those voices from day one.

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