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Disability Benchmarks

RESULTS FROM THE 2018 DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT TRACKER

Benchmarks and trends from the Disability Employment Tracker, NOD’s confidential, annual survey measuring companies’ disability and veterans’ inclusion policies and practices.

View the infographic | Text-only

WHAT IS THE TRACKER?

The Disability Employment Tracker™ examines five essential inclusion areas, to discover how businesses are progressing in their disability inclusion journey.

Graphic showing 5 inclusion areas: Climate & Culture; Talent Sourcing; People Practices; Workplace & Technology; Strategy & Metrics. Maturity Curve showing stages: 1. Exploration; 2. Compliance; 3. Competence; 4. Competitive Advantage.

WHO USES THE TRACKER?

Nearly 200 companies, employing 9 million workers

FINDING TALENT CAN BE THE HARDEST PART

The most important disability inclusion driver is getting and keeping talent.

Average percentage of employees identifying as having a disability: 3.9%; Companies that have reached the Dept. of Labor target of 7% disability representation: 12%

 

Many use a variety of channels to source talent with disabilities, but few are making hires from them.

Graph showing percentage of companies using sourcing specific channels, and of those, whether any hired talent with disabilities through them. Community Partners: 74% used, 51% hired; Disability Job Board: 73% used, 36% hired; Colleges + Universities: 49% used, 31% hired; Existing Channels: 48% used, 28% hired.

ASSESSMENT + PLANNING

Most companies have a plan for improving disability inclusion practices, but fewer have conducted an assessment of current efforts. Understanding your starting point will ensure the most effective future plan.

Graph showing percentage of that: Have done an assessment, 62%; Have a plan, 81%

LEADING PRACTICES

Companies with a high representation of people with disabilities (> 4%) share these practices:

Strategy & Metrics: Plan for improving disability inclusion practices; Invite all employees to voluntarily self-identify as a person with a disability; Administer a survey evaluating employee attitudes about the organization. Culture & Climate: Diversity champion accountable to drive disability strategy; Disability-specific employee/business resource group with annual budget. Talent Sourcing: Recruiters know how to find accommodation process; Work directly with community partners to source candidates with disabilities. People Practices: Provide disability-related education/awareness programs; Managers/supervisors know how to effectively administer accommodation process. Workplace & Technology: Accommodation procedure can be easily found by all employees’ Post-offer and pre-employment, ask if accommodation will be required.

GAPS

Disability lags behind veterans’ and broad diversity practices:

Graph showing percentage of companies using Employee Resource Groups: Diversity, 90%; Disability, 62%; Veterans, 80%. Graph showing percentage of companies that have senior leaders who publicly support: Diversity, 96%; Disability, 77%; Veterans, 85%.

Companies are slower to adopt these leading practices (< 50%):

Careers web page for job seekers with disabilities; Accommodations: Centralized budget, Process explained on first day of employment, Requests resolved in under 2 weeks; Disability self-identification communication campaign with measurable impact; Mentoring program for employees with disabilities; Mandatory manager disability inclusion training; Weighted disability inclusion competencies on performance reviews.

VETERANS

Veteran inclusion practices are trending high, but target employment outcomes remain low.

Graph showing percentage of companies that: Report veterans’ workforce representation of 6% or more (Dept. of Labor VEVRAA benchmark 6.4%), 28%; Have a plan to improve veterans’ inclusion practices, 86%; Annually assess veterans' outreach and recruitment efforts, 82%.

Haven’t used the Tracker Yet? Need an Expert Assessment?

Start the Tracker today and receive a free benchmarking Scorecard.Get a customized assessment, with expert recommendations and a roadmap to advance, with the Disability Inclusion Accelerator.

View the 2017 Tracker results.

The Disability Employment Tracker™ was developed in partnership with The National Business and Disability Council at The Viscardi Center.