DISABILITY INDEX REPORT EXAMINES INCLUSION AT WORK AND WHAT EMPLOYERS CAN DO TO IMPROVE

In July 2022, Disability:IN, in partnership with the American Association of People with Disabilities, released their eighth annual Disability Equality Index (DEI) Report, which looks at the disability inclusion and belonging progress of 415 companies. The companies that volunteer to participate in the Index are graded on a 100-point scale that evaluates their workplace accessibility, inclusive employment practices and disability inclusion at all levels.

The report highlights three specific practices, or phases, that propel the disability agenda and how the participating companies fared:

Foundational practices: fundamental standards that accommodate people’s basic needs, adopted by most companies that took the Index. Example findings include:

• 96% offer flexible work options
• 91% encourage employees to identify as a person with disability
• 79% have employee retention and advancement programs that focus on or include employees with disabilities

Emerging trends: help organizations adopt more wide-ranging cultural inclusion, which was embraced by about half of the companies that took the index. Example findings include:

• 66% use data to track progress in hiring people with disabilities
• 61% make all job interview candidates aware of the option to request an accommodation(s) for the interview
• 55% have a centralized accommodations fund or budget margin for disability-related expenses

New imperatives for success: which move the disability agenda forward and drive belonging are embraced by only a smaller subset of companies. Example findings include:

• 30% have a Senior Executive (within first two layers reporting to CEO) who is internally known as being a person with a disability
• 3% of new hires self-identify as having a disability
• 11% use services provided by disability-owned businesses to accommodate hard-of-hearing, deaf or deaf/blind employees

People with disabilities are an underemployed global population representing more than one billion, or 15%, of all people, and that few employees openly identify as disabled, the report states. In today’s tight labor market, talent acquisition teams are constantly being challenged to find new ways of expanding talent pools and progressing disability inclusion and belonging. Focusing on improving this will have myriad benefits, not least helping fill some of the record-high vacancies, and that people with disabilities also bring unique work skills and perspectives that foster innovation.