September 26, 2019 – More than 200 diversity and inclusion leaders from companies around the country gathered at the National Organization on Disability’s (NOD) Annual Forum and Dinner, entitled Shifting the Talent Paradigm: Inclusive Culture for a Modern Workforce. Sponsored by Lead Partners PwC and Spectrum, the all-day forum explored the best change management tactics that corporate leaders can deploy to create a more diverse and inclusive culture. Senior managers heard from executives and experts on the most effect tools and tactics to create an inclusive culture, as well as the leadership skills and personal attributes needed to lead a culture change.
Featuring: Rhonda Nesmith Crichlow, Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, Charter Communications; Mark Balsano, Vice President of Accessibility, Charter Communications; Amy Warner, Vice President and General Manager, IT Digital Business Solutions and Corporate Director of Accessibility, Intel; and Simon Dermer, CEO & Co-Founder, eSSENTIAL Accessibility
September 26, 2019 – More than 200 diversity and inclusion leaders from companies around the country gathered at the National Organization on Disability’s (NOD) Annual Forum and Dinner, entitled Shifting the Talent Paradigm: Inclusive Culture for a Modern Workforce. Sponsored by Lead Partners PwC and Spectrum, the all-day forum explored the best change management tactics that corporate leaders can deploy to create a more diverse and inclusive culture. Senior managers heard from executives and experts on the most effect tools and tactics to create an inclusive culture, as well as the leadership skills and personal attributes needed to lead a culture change.
Featuring: Craig E. Leen, Director, OFCCP, U.S. Department of Labor; Candee Chambers, Executive Director, DirectEmployers Association; and Karen Brown, Bridge Arrow
To provide assistance with a disability hiring initiative at roasting plant and distribution sites.
OUTCOME
A Starbucks Inclusion Academy—a model originally piloted in a distribution center in Carson Valley, NV—was successfully established at Starbucks’ largest roasting plant (York, PA) with the first class of graduates hired by Starbucks. Starbucks Inclusion Academy is a unique on-the-job six-week training program that helps people with disabilities gain meaningful work experience in manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution. Working at three facilities, NOD trained more than 600 supervisors and staff on working with individuals with disabilities; created a network of partners, such as the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation in York, to provide an ongoing candidate pipeline; and developed protocols to make sure that suppliers understand the company’s needs and provide effective onboarding of candidates.
TESTIMONIAL
“Not only was NOD able to provide training for Starbucks supervisors at our York Roasting Plant on how to manage individuals with disabilities, they helped us to quickly identify the most appropriate sourcing agencies and worked with those agencies to ensure they understood our workforce needs. NOD was an invaluable partner in helping us launch the Starbucks Inclusion Academy.”
Deverl Maserang | EVP of Global Supply Chain Operations, Starbucks
Learn from our findings about the career interests and support needs of severely injured veterans, particularly those with post-traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Sponsored by the Institute for Economic Empowerment/AbilityOne at NISH.
Bring in talent with diverse perspectives to solve business challenges, using PwC’s disability inclusion data to develop customized recommendations.
OUTCOME
PwC’s leaders opted for the Disability Inclusion Accelerator™to chart a path forward. PwC collaborated with NOD to understand the analysis of its Disability Employment Tracker™ results and built a high-level action plan to accelerate company-wide efforts to recruit top talent with disabilities.
OUR EXPERIENCE
“Our Tracker report showed our strengths and insights into other high-level benchmarks we could aspire towards in our disability inclusion journey. We obtained a different lens to direct our focus on talent that we next opted for NOD’s Disability Inclusion Accelerator™. The Accelerator gave us an even more data-rich, customized benchmarking, plus a specific action plan that would help us chart our short-term, medium- and longer-term initiatives and a roadmap for senior management’s evaluation. Our team was very pleased with what we learned and we’re now moving ahead with greater confidence with these new tools in hand.”
To provide assistance in recruiting and hiring people with disabilities at four of Lowe’s distribution centers and to provide training to Lowe’s staff, managers, and local partners.
OUTCOME
Lowe’s hired more than 150 new workers with disabilities in the first year, and an additional 250 workers in the following 18-month period. NOD provided training for more than 400 staff members and helped Lowe’s develop a local lead partner and a recruiting pipeline.
Among the new hires, turnover and absences were lower than or equal to that of other Lowe’s employees
After 18 months, with transition support from NOD, Lowe’s committed to expanding the program nationally, hiring a full-time disability employment expert to oversee the process
TESTIMONIAL
“Everybody wants to do the right thing. And everybody’s on a different part of their journey. What’s great is that NOD can play in all parts of that journey to help people be successful. It’s not only the right thing to do – it’s right for business.”
“Lowe’s has worked with the National Organization on Disability and many state vocational rehabilitation agencies to assist in hiring and increasing awareness of employment opportunities for people with disabilities. NOD has been a valued resource for Lowe’s and we commend them for the work they are doing…”
Steve Szilagyi | Supply Chain Executive, Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
Giant Eagle + NOD | ‘A customized workplace solution from the ground up’
OBJECTIVE
To architect a plan to implement universal design principles – a designed environment that can be utilized by all people, regardless of their age, size, disability – in Giant Eagle’s distribution facility to make every job position within the facility available to people with disabilities.
OUTCOME
When Giant Eagle made the decision to extend their diversity and inclusion goals beyond retail outlets to distribution centers, they brought in experts from the National Organization on Disability (NOD) to help. NOD conducted interviews with Giant Eagle team members and held a collaborative workshop to tailor a plan unique to Giant Eagle’s goals and worksite. NOD also analyzed jobs at Giant Eagle, including assessing how work gets done, and identified feasible changes to job structures, roles and shifts. Giant Eagle attributes much of the success of the six-month engagement to NOD’s inherent knowledge of and experience in the business world, as well as NOD’s ability to build trust across the company during a time of change.
TESTIMONIALS
“The NOD team was incredibly professional. They clearly are experts. They took time to figure out our culture. They took the time to meet the right people. They brought the right people to the table, from the HR staff to the operations staff to the union representatives. And really built trust across all of the teams. You know, when we’re talking about making changes, not everyone is always open to that. NOD was just so good at making sure that they were leveraging their expertise, all the while making the team feel like they were developing the strategy themselves. And I think that that’s so important for the long-term ownership of the plan. I absolutely would recommend NOD to any company that’s trying to improve their disability inclusion. I know they helped us and their professionalism and expertise is unrivalled.”
Jeremy Shapira | Special Projects, Inclusion and Diversity
To recruit and employ people with disabilities to join the REI team at the state-of-the-art distribution center in Goodyear, Arizona. REI is already known for creating a progressive work environment that is inclusive and respectful. Through their partnership with NOD, REI had a goal of building a workforce reflective of the community and their customer base, by including people with disabilities.
OUTCOME
In previous efforts to create a working environment welcoming to people with disabilities in other REI facilities, the company noted how long the transition typically took. Working with the NOD team, REI saw near immediate results in the facility’s culture, including employees who took it upon themselves to learn sign language to communicate with a new co-worker who uses sign. NOD’s training program – created for all levels of employees, including leadership – taught the REI team how to work with and lead team members with disabilities. These training sessions, including etiquette and awareness lessons, were delivered to more than 30 REI managers and 120 staff members in anticipation of hiring more people with disabilities from the greater Goodyear area. Another key portion of the REI and NOD partnership was a comprehensive review of their existing inclusion policies resulting in specific recommendations to advance their inclusion goals.
TESTIMONIALS
“If anybody were to ever ask me if I’d work with the National Organization on Disability, my answer is a heartfelt ‘yes!’ They’ve been a fantastic partner to us and most importantly it wasn’t about them having a canned program that they had set that they would roll out to every employer. They truly take the time to understand you, understand your business, understand the opportunities in your business and really match those up. There’s no force fed, pre-programmed set of ideas they have for you. They really work with you to make something right for your company. I really appreciate that and I’d highly recommend the National Organization on Disability as a key partner on your initiative to find, recruit and employ great talent.”
Chris Joyce | Director of Operations, REI
“The NOD really set the foundation for us and gave us a base and a ground to really start walking. We were there, but I think we were more crawling towards that direction. The NOD really got us walking and really got us to run towards the goal we had. They were a great coach and mentor.”
Learn about the disconnection on campus between career services offices and students with disabilities and its impact for companies seeking to meet federal hiring guidelines. This publication offers a case study and recommendations on what colleges and recruiters can do to address this issue.
To jumpstart NDEAM, a coalition of national organizations are shining a spot light on one critical issue facing companies seeking to meet federal disability employment targets: a broken pipeline between employers and universities who are graduating students with disabilities—and what’s being done to address it. Representatives from NOD, with National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE); Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD); General Electric Aviation; National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID); and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will address the urgency of connecting graduates with disabilities to employers during the college’s Career Fair.
Welcome to the NOD Leadership Council site where members enjoy exclusive access to leading disability inclusion resources, tools and events.
Don’t have a username and password? Check to see if your company is a NOD Leadership Council member and learn more about joining.
