Best-in-class global employment programs aim to improve disability representation in financial services, technology and other hard-to-hire sectors
ALEXANDRIA, VA. (June 23, 2022)—Disability:IN, the leading global organization driving business disability inclusion, today announced that more than 200,000 people with disabilities have been hired at top companies through the efforts of Inclusion Works and its team of experts. The hires represent 590x growth since Inclusion Works began collecting the data in 2015 with a baseline of 339 hires.
Even in a remarkably tight labor market, people with disabilities struggle to land jobs, partly because of biases in the hiring process. Inclusion Works, the consulting arm of Disability:IN, advances employment outcomes for this talent pool through these first-of-a-kind programs with 100 leading brands:
- Fortune 500 career showcase: Fortune 500s, among other companies, interviewed nearly 800 experienced job candidates with disabilities in May for roles in STEM, finance, business, sales, and customer service. The 29 participating companies included Citi, Dell, Expedia, Experian, Facebook Meta, Google, Lyft, Sony, Starbucks, T-Mobile, The Walt Disney Company and more.
- Corporate hiring goal-setting: Many Inclusion Works partners aim to become accountable for hiring a targeted number of people with disabilities to improve representation. Intel is aspiring to a 2030 goal of having 10% of its workforce composed of people with disabilities.
- Open-source training guides: Inclusion Works assisted Google in the development of an interactive training titled Disability Fundamentals for Managers to educate Google managers about disability awareness, etiquette, disclosures and accommodations. Google has adapted the course for any company in the world.
- Global conferences: Disability:IN’s 114-person Asia-Pacific Roundtable held its first disability inclusion conference in the region this year with nearly 1,300 registrants representing 220 companies across 37 countries. The flagship 2022 Disability:IN Conference will take place in Dallas in July.
“Reaching 200,000 collective hires is an incredible accomplishment for these companies and speaks to the power of the Inclusion Works program in facilitating inclusive workplaces, equity and belonging. The program connects the participating companies to each other to share best practices and to talent with disabilities,” said Leslie Wilson, Disability:IN’s EVP of Global Workplace Initiatives and the Inclusion Works Team Lead.
Inclusion Works is one of the world’s most recognizable connectors for companies that are primed to establish an inclusive culture, improve labor-force diversity, build accessibility practices, and develop a sustainable recruitment strategy. The program provides unlimited, customized consulting and programs to over 100 companies that collectively employ over 8.5 million people and have $786 trillion in total revenue.
“As an early adopter, I have witnessed the impact of Inclusion Works, from helping organizations implement processes and practices that support individuals with disabilities to connecting talented people to their dream careers. This initiative has filled a void in the marketplace. We are proud to partner with Disability:IN and our new team members joining us through Inclusion Works,” said Wil Lewis, Experian’s Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.
In 2021 alone, 32 companies joined Inclusion Works and the program’s team of experts helped participating companies recruit and hire more than 80,000 individuals with disabilities.
“We were excited to participate in the recent Disability Virtual Career Fair and were impressed with the talent we saw,” said Beanca Nicholson, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Partnerships and Events Lead, Google. “We welcomed over 100 live candidates to have conversations with current Google employees and hosted sessions like Google Data Science and Opportunities. We continue to value our strong partnership with Disability:IN and look forward to hosting more experiences like this in the future.”
For a full list of Inclusion Works companies visit the Inclusion Works page at https://disabilityin.org/what-we-do/inclusion-works/
About Disability:IN
Disability:IN is a global organization driving disability inclusion, equity & belonging in business. More than 500 corporations trust Disability:IN to activate and achieve disability inclusion across their enterprises and in the broader corporate mainstream. Through the world’s most comprehensive disability inclusion benchmarking; best-in-class conferences and programs; and expert counsel and engagement, Disability:IN works with leading businesses to create long-term business and societal impact. Join us at disabilityin.org #AreYouIN
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