Month: September 2020

Cohort of Top Companies Recognized for Exemplary Disability Hiring and Employment Practices

New York (October 1, 2020) – At the National Organization on Disability (NOD)’s Annual Forum, entitled “ADA at 30: What’s Next”, 68 companies were honored as 2020 NOD Leading Disability Employers.  Now in its sixth year, the NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal recognizes companies that demonstrate exemplary employment practices for people with disabilities. This annual recognition is designed to commend those organizations that are leading the way in disability hiring and to encourage other companies to tap into the many benefits of hiring talent with disabilities, including strong consumer preference for companies that employ individuals with disabilities and greater employee engagement across the workforce.

“America’s success in the world depends on how well we inspire and put to use the talents and energies of every person in this country,” said NOD Chairman Governor Tom Ridge.  “It was the vision of President George H.W. Bush, who signed the ADA into law, that no ability is to be wasted and that everyone has a full and equal chance to play a part in our national progress. We at NOD remain committed to seeing that vision fulfilled by working closely with corporate America to help them achieve their disability inclusion goals. These 68 organizations certainly have stepped up and are doing just that, and we applaud their leadership and thank them for their commitment to hiring people with disabilities.”

The 2020 NOD Leading Disability Employers are:

• Accenture
• American Heart Association
• Anthem
• AT&T
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
• Blue Shield of California
• The Boeing Company
• BP America
• Capital One
• casaGnial – U/able
• Centene Corporation
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Cigna
• Comcast NBCUniversal
• Cox Communications
• Dow
• DTE Energy
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Endeavors Unlimited
• Eversource Energy
• EY
• FCA US
• FirstEnergy
• General Motors
• The Hershey Company
• Hilton Worldwide
• Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
• Humana
• Idaho National Laboratory
• Kaiser Permanente
• KeyBank
• KPMG
• Lockheed Martin
• L’Oréal USA
• Marriott International
• Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center
• Mastercard
• Mayo Clinic
• Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
• National Grid
• National Security Agency
• Nautilus Hyosung America
• New Editions Consulting
• Northrop Grumman
• Procter & Gamble
• Project HIRED
• Prudential Financial
• Puerto Rico Industries for the Blind
• PwC
• Randstad US
• Reed Smith
• SEI Investments Company
• Sempra Energy
• Sony Electronics
• Tata Consultancy Services | Tata America International
• TD Bank
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• TIAA
• U.S. Bank
• United Airlines
• Unum Group
• Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center
• Vertical Harvest
• The Viscardi Center
• Walgreens
• WeCo Accessibility Services
• Wells Fargo & Company
• Yale New Haven Health

The NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal is awarded based on data provided by companies in response to the NOD Disability Employment Tracker™, a free and confidential assessment that benchmarks companies’ disability inclusion programs in the following areas:

• Climate & Culture
• People Practices
• Talent Sourcing
• Workplace & Technology
• Strategy & Metrics

While the Tracker is confidential, organizations may opt to be considered for the NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal. Responses are scored, taking into account both disability employment practices and performance. Scoring prioritizes practices that are associated with increased disability employment outcomes over time, and companies receive additional points based on the percentage of people with disabilities in their workforce.

To be considered for the 2021 NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal, companies must complete the Disability Employment Tracker during the qualifying window. Sign up to be notified when the 2021 Disability Employment Tracker opens this October.

GOVERNOR TOM RIDGE PRESENTS AWARDS TO INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS MAKING EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN DISABILITY INCLUSION                                            

NEW YORK (September 30, 2020) – Today, more than 300 diversity and inclusion leaders from global companies attended the National Organization on Disability’s (NOD) Annual Forum presented by platinum-level sponsors Prudential Financial, Spectrum and Target. The inspiring two-hour webcast entitled, “ADA at 30: What’s Next?”, addressed the challenges and opportunities of building a more disability inclusive society in the midst of the global pandemic and the fight for social and economic justice in our country.

The program paid homage to the activists, officials and allies who enacted the ADA and its promise of equality, and those who fulfilled that legacy by breaking down barriers for Americans with disabilities, especially in the workforce.  Leaders of yesterday and today examined progress made in increasing disability employment and barriers to employment that still remain. The forum, emceed by actors and disability advocates Danny Woodburn (Seinfeld) and Robert David Hall (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), featured an influential group of speakers and topics including:

• A meaningful discussion with disability rights activist Judy Heumann and disability policy expert Lex Frieden that explored how grassroots activism led to the landmark civil rights legislation in 1990, and how those lessons can be used today to close the disability employment gap.
• A message from Senator Robert P. Casey addressing what the ADA means today and how to preserve the gains made by the disability community in a turbulent political and economic era.
• A practical discussion, moderated by Mike Shebanek from Facebook, with esteemed panelists Director of Accessibility Jake Konerza, Target, and Vice President of Accessibility Steve Raymond, Charter about how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the virtual workplace, where accessible technology is critical to productivity and engagement.
• Other speakers included NOD Chairman Governor Tom Ridge, NOD President Carol Glazer and Prudential Financial Chairman and CEO Charles Lowrey.

“I applaud all of the companies who participated in NOD’s Annual Forum as they are making a purposeful and laudatory commitment to hiring people with disabilities and creating an inclusive workplace that allows all people to thrive,” said NOD Chairman Governor Tom Ridge. “While we owe a great deal to the activists that sparked the disability rights movement, actually fulfilling the promise of the ADA requires all of us to do our part. Business and community leaders must continue to come together, as we are doing right now, to reaffirm their belief in and commitment to a truly inclusive workforce and a truly inclusive America.”

In addition, Chairperson Governor Tom Ridge presented three distinguished awards to the following honorees:

• The Kessler Foundation, a pillar in the disability community for its philanthropic support, received the Alan A. Reich Award for its exceptional contributions in disability inclusion.  This award, named in honor of NOD’s founder who helped spark a movement to ensure people with disabilities were represented equally in all aspects of life, is given to an established leader who is advancing disability rights.

• The Coca-Cola Company, one of the most respected global brands in the world, received the Charles F. Dey Award for their significant efforts to ensure that disability plays a vital role in the diversity and inclusion equation in both the company and the foundation.

• Judy Heumann received the NOD Lifetime Achievement Award for her tireless efforts to make the ADA a reality for millions of individuals with disabilities and her continued work to build a brighter and stronger future for many more.

Lastly, 68 organizations were honored as the 2020 NOD Leading Disability Employers for their exemplary hiring and employment practices for people with disabilities. Now in its sixth year, the NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal is awarded to the top performers on NOD’s Disability Employment Tracker, a free and confidential assessment that benchmarks companies’ disability inclusion programs.

About the Leading Disability Employer Seal + Disability Employment Tracker

To see current and past winners of the NOD Leading Disability Employer seal, visit www.NOD.org/seal.

To be considered for the 2021 NOD Leading Disability Employer seal, companies must complete the free and confidential Disability Employment Tracker assessment during the qualifying window. For more information and to sign up, visit www.NOD.org/tracker.

Sept. 4, 2020 | By NOD President Carol Glazer. 

As cooler days prevail, I can’t help but think about endings and beginnings.

Of course, there is the end of summer fast approaching, which means the beginning of fall. But in this, the strangest, in many cases direst of years, I am struck by how beginnings and endings are taking on new meaning.

Take the upcoming Labor Day holiday for example. At its essence it represents a tribute to the end of unfair labor practices and beginning of the social and economic achievements of American workers. But, as never before, we see that prosperity is not universal, especially for people with disabilities.

The hovering dark clouds of our economy during the pandemic have meant more and more people with disabilities are out of work and struggling to find employment.

To put it in perspective, in early May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Jobs Report showed that nearly 1 million working-age people with disabilities lost their jobs – a 20 percent reduction – in March and April alone. By comparison, 14 percent of working-age people without disabilities lost their jobs in that timeframe. What is worse is that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was already extremely high.

Before the current economic slowdown, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities was historically high, yet it was only at 31 percent, against 75 percent for working-age people without disabilities. The gap will continue to get worse in the coming months if the economy does not turn around because people with disabilities are traditionally the last hired and the first fired. And we are not necessarily among the workers who are rehired.

These are harsh numbers and cause for concern. But I believe there is a good chance COVID-19 may just be the beginning of a way to level the playing field for people with disabilities. Telework is an idea people with disabilities have promoted for decades with limited success, saying we could be successful if we just had the right accommodations. We were met with denials like “our company needs someone in the office fulltime for the best staff collaboration.” That response is out the window in 2020.

Now that businesses have no reason not to hire someone who works from home, they should consider all the positives of bringing on board people with disabilities. When companies hire people with disabilities, they raise their performance bar. People with disabilities are incredible problem solvers, as they spend much of each day navigating daily challenges. We constantly show persistence, tenacity and adaptability.

At the National Organization on Disability we know that to be true and we help companies understand where they stand with their disability inclusion through our Disability Employment Tracker, a free and confidential assessment and scorecard benchmarking a company’s performance.

On staff, employees with disabilities make a difference. As many as 75 percent of us (compared with 61 percent of employees without disabilities) have ideas that would drive value for our companies. Nearly half of these ideas would serve the disability market, according to the Harvard Business Review.

Our ideas can help create a can’t-be-ignored customer base. The consumer spending of people with disabilities is nearly a trillion dollars annually, and provides an opportunity for companies to capitalize on an additional 20 percent of the market share.

These are important issues to consider. And on Labor Days to come, I hope we can look back and see that during this unprecedented time, there was both an end to the unfair exclusion of people with disabilities who want to work and the beginning of universal accommodations and accessibility that allows everyone to be a successful part of the workforce.