Across the world, the workforce is seeing an influx of talent with disabilities, as evidenced by the percentage of new hires who are self-identifying their disability status during onboarding: 4% median multimarket aggregate and 5% median in the U.S. These figures outstrip the self-identification rates for current employees: 3.5% multimarket median and 4% median in the US.

With the increasing importance of global corporate reporting directives and stakeholder expectations regarding social impact and corporate governance, the Disability Equality Index offers an objective and comprehensive tool to guide businesses in enhancing inclusion practices. Since its inception in 2015, participation in the benchmark has surged almost tenfold, highlighting its enduring effectiveness and relevance. The internationalization of the benchmark is enabling more companies to build robust global disability inclusion strategies, thereby improving their operational, cultural, and financial performance.

Disability Equality Index data collected between 2015 and 2023 fueled a new report by Accenture Research entitled The Disability Inclusion Imperative. Released in November 2023, the updated business case for disability inclusion reveals that inclusive businesses realize more revenue, more net income, more economic profit, and more productivity than peer companies.

Disability Inclusion Leaders realize marked business gains over other participants

Leaders are more likely to outperform industry peers in productivity by 25% (measured as revenue per employee).

$781 by Industry Peers vs $845 by Leaders

1.6 times more revenue

2 times more economic profit

2.6 times more net income