In December 2018, Getting Hired teamed up with Disability:IN on a webinar to help inclusive employers with making a business case for disability inclusion in 2019. Disability:IN is the leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion worldwide and one of Getting Hired’s top community partners.
Our webinar was moderated by Sarah Pullano, Sr. Account Manager at Getting Hired and was presented by Becky Curran, Director, Disability Equality Index (DEI) at Disability:IN.
Becky shared tips for organizations that are looking for ways on how to start the journey to hiring more individuals with disabilities. To help support inclusive employers with their 2019 disability inclusion efforts, we’ve provided a recap of the webinar below.
A closer look into the Accenture study
Our webinar kicked off with a deep dive into Accenture’s recent research study that leveraged DEI data. The study was conducted in partnership with Disability:IN and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).
The research found that a correlation does exist between the inclusion of people with disabilities and an organization’s financial success and shows just how much companies stand to gain if they welcome persons with disabilities to their workforce as this population is an untapped talent pool of 10.7 million people.
The research concluded that companies who embrace best practices for including persons with disabilities outperform other companies in revenue, net income and economic profit margins. According to the research analysis, this is big deal because if just one percent of unemployed persons with disabilities joined the U.S. labor force, the GDP could get a boost of up to $25 billion.
Organizations looking for the entire report to reference for their own disability inclusion business cases can find the full report here.
Start your inclusion journey with the DEI survey
At Getting Hired, we are often asked how organizations can start their disability inclusion journey and one of our top recommendations is to take Disability:IN’s DEI survey.
During the webinar, Becky shared a deep dive into the various categories that the DEI evaluates. These categories include evaluating your culture and leadership, community engagement efforts and your enterprise-wide accessibility efforts. Watch the playback of the webinar for the full overview of categories.
According to Disability:IN, companies that improve their DEI scores are four times more likely to have total shareholder returns that outperform peers when compared to non-improvers. This is impressive and should encourage employers to continue to take the survey in 2019.
Tips to increase your DEI score and why it’s valuable
Our webinar continued with top tips for first time DEI participants, insights for current DEI participants and information for organizations that have already received a score of 100:
- First time DEI Participants: Disability:IN recommends first time DEI participants to download the questions from the DEI website ahead of the benchmark open date (deadline to register is January 31, 2019) and get as many departments as possible engaged. The more questions you can answer with certainty, the better off you’ll be.
- Current DEI Participants: Review the questions that you answered “No, but plan to with the next year” and hold yourself accountable to make it possible to answer with an affirmative “Yes, during the next year.”
- 100 DEI Score Participants: For organizations that have already received a score of 100, there’s still room for improvement wherever you weren’t able to answer affirmatively. A score of 100 does not mean to convey “perfection.” It simply means that a company adheres to many of the numerous leading disability inclusion practices featured in the DEI.
It’s important to note, AAPD, Disability:IN and Accenture recognize there is no one “right” way to practice inclusion, and that some practices may be more practical for some companies or industries than others.
For more information about the DEI, you can contact the Disability:IN team here or for companies interested in registering for the DEI, be sure to do so before January 31, 2018!
Watch the full recap of our webinar with Disability:IN:
