2. Environment
2.3 Organisational Communications
Action 2.3B Promote and support accessible organisational communications with staff.
Guidance
As well as communicating the organisation’s commitment to inclusion and the availability of supports (see Action 2.3A), it’s important that you consider the approach to accessibility of all general internal communications to reach all employees with important information and staff announcements.
“The people we support, often experience very inaccessible internal communications, like instructions sent only in long blocks of text in emails, or instructions given just once verbally that employees can’t refer (back) to. That’s a problem.”
WIDE Consultation Participant – Disability Organisation
If you do not design internal communications about company news, upcoming events, organisational memos, or upcoming promotion/job opportunities within the organisation with accessibility in mind, then you will not effectively reach all staff members.
To ensure that internal organisational communications are accessible to all staff, it is essential to adopt accessibility guidance within your company style guide. Here are some steps to ensure communications are more inclusive:
- Utilise a Variety of Formats– Provide information in a variety of ways to play to varied strengths and needs amongst your staff. This could include supplementing text with meaningful images/diagrams and summarising key messages in short video.
- Use Plain Language– Ensure that all internal communications to staff are conveyed in plain language. This supports comprehension for all staff and makes information easier to understand for individuals with cognitive disabilities or people whose primary language is not the language used.
- Select Accessible Font Styles and Colours – Use clear, easy-to read, sans serif fonts (e.g., Arial, Verdana) at a minimum of 12pt size in documents or 24pt in slide decks. Avoid italics and justified text alignment and ensure the colour contrast between text and background means it is clearly legible.
- Chunk Information – Ensure no single topic in your communications are overly long, and information is broken down into manageable chunks using headings and bullet points as appropriate.
- Appropriately Tag Documents – Ensure document content is appropriately tagged (e.g., Heading 1 for main headings, heading 2 for sub-headings) to ensure screen reader users can easily navigate information.
- Add Alternative Text to Images – Ensure alternative text (alt text) is applied to any images used to ensure screen reader users can have the image content described to them.
- Check Image Clarity – Ensure diagrams and images with text in them (e.g. ones describing organisational processes) are uncluttered, easy to understand, and have high contrast between text and background colours.
- Use Diversity Friendly Photos – Ensure stock imagery and photographs used as part of campaigns show diverse groups of staff, including disabled people and people of varying nationalities.
- Check Accessibility of Video Content – Ensure videos have closed captions or subtitles, and important visual information in videos is also provided via audio description (e.g. slide showing opening times of a service also has narration speaking the times). Avoid using flashing lights, strobe effects or jarring transitions in video, and ensure voiceover audio is clear and without distracting background noise.
- Use Accessibility Checkers – Before finalising documents and slide decks shared, use the built-in accessibility checker to review their accessibility and make amendments where necessary.
By promoting and supporting accessible organisational communications, your organisation can ensure that all staff are informed and engaged, fostering a more inclusive and supportive workplace.
“Easy read (and) plain language (information) would benefit everyone, not just those with disabilities.”
WIDE Consultation Participant – Disability Organisation
Incorporating this kind of information into a style guide for internal company communications can support more consistent application of accessible communications techniques.
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