Business as “unusual”: Disability inclusion practices beyond legal compliance
To be innovative, one needs to be inclusive
More than four years ago, I attended the Disability Innovation Summit in London. Academics, practitioners, community members, international organisations and innovators - some with, some without disabilities - were there to “shape the future of disability”. I had been invited to bring in the perspective of private sector companies, as I was already working with the ILO Global Business and Disability Network - the world’s only coming-together of more than 30 leading multinational enterprises collaborating with the United Nations agency for the world of work on disability issues.
When I was asked what could be seen as an innovation when it comes to disability inclusion in the business community, I said that actually working on disability issues at all would be an innovation, as it disrupts “business as usual”. Forbes’ Global Diversity and Inclusion survey among over 300 executives at multinational enterprises had found that “disability” was routinely ignored in companies’ Diversity and Inclusion efforts. Since the Disability Innovation Summit in 2017, things have happened in the business community - good things.
From disability data to an inclusion revolution
Accenture’s research report Getting to Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage put concrete figures to the business benefits of being a disability-inclusive company. Among 140 US companies that were part of this study, 45 were considered “Disability Inclusion Champions”. For instance, Champions were twice as likely as others to have higher total shareholder returns than those of their peer group.
Prior to the Accenture study with its focus on economic benefits, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Global Compact had published the Guide for Business on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which continues to be up-to-date technical guidance for companies that want to improve their disability inclusion policies and practices. So, the “Why” and “How” of disability inclusion in business seemed to be sufficiently addressed. What seemed to be missing? - Commitment by companies’ top management to create disability-inclusive workplace cultures.
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in early 2019, The Valuable 500 - led by Caroline Casey - proclaimed the “inclusion revolution”. By now, 500 global business leaders have answered the call to commit to putting disability on their board agendas.
Legal compliance is good, effective problem solving and innovation are better
With the rather recent “disability buzz” in the business community, an increasing number of companies start addressing disability issues in systematic and sustainable ways. Subsequently, they oftentimes go well beyond pure compliance with disability-related laws or accessibility regulations in their respective jurisdiction.
One of the main goals of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network is getting good corporate practices on disability inclusion adopted by more and more companies, particularly multinational enterprises. Below, I am listing a few of these practices in key areas. However, the featured company might not be the only one that has such a practice in place.
Global internal accountability frameworks
Accenture’s Global Enablement Scorecard analyses disability inclusion maturity in over 60 countries. The scorecard tracks progress in 5 areas: leadership, talent, culture, accessibility, and ecosystem. Accenture uses the information to develop country-specific disability inclusion strategies.
Accessibility
IBM in 1999 codified its corporate standards for product accessibility with the adoption of Corporate Instruction 162 (CI 162). CI 162 directs all IBM operating organizations and subsidiaries to design features and controls into IBM hardware and software products, internet systems and websites, product documentation and internal tools and applications that make these offerings accessible to people with disabilities.
Global supply chains
L’Oréal’s Solidarity Sourcing programme started in 2010 and directs a proportion of the company’s global purchases to suppliers who employ people from vulnerable communities, including persons with disabilities. So far, L’Oréal has been leading more than 370 local inclusive projects supporting more than 81,000 people gaining access to work.
Reasonable accommodations
Shell centralised all requests for workplace adjustments and created an employee-centric approach after years of functional ‘standardization’. Average case duration and costs can now be better tracked and reduced.
Global disability governance by top management
GSK’s Global Disability Confidence Council was established in 2014 and is chaired by a member of the Corporate Executive Team who reports to the CEO. Council members hold senior accountability for delivering GSK’s disability confidence strategy, workstream action plans and implementing council decisions.
Disability Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
Dow’s Disability Employee Network (DEN) has more than 4,500 participants and 30 chapters around the world, including people with disabilities, parents of a child with a disability and allies. In fact, there are many companies that are already benefitting from disability ERGs, of which many are brought together by PurpleSpace.
The above-featured companies represent a small selection of enterprises that are leading on disability inclusion in particular areas within the business community. What these companies have in common is the understanding that “business as usual” and pure legal compliance are not an option when it comes to the genuine ambition to innovate, to remain competitive and to tap into the unique views and problem solving skills of persons with disabilities.
