Shocking state of disability representation in business

A new report published by The Valuable 500 and Tortoise Media has revealed the shocking state of disability representation in business.

According to the new report, which coincides with Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), the average representation of people with disabilities amongst employees reported by FTSE 100 companies stands at just 3.2%; compared to the percentage of the wider population with a disability, which is around 18%. Additionally, only five FTSE 100 companies have issued board level statements on disability as part of their leadership agenda, confirmed the research. 

Furthermore, only 10 have set goals related to inclusion; and almost one in three fail to meet government website accessibility requirements. With digital accessibility more important than ever, 29% are failing to meet website accessibility standards. In short, businesses are potentially missing out on a $13 trillion market, noted the study.

The report highlights that disability is often treated as a “third-rate matter”, falling behind gender and ethnicity in terms of the corporate agenda, marketing attention and regulatory focus, despite impacting more than a billion people around the world and millions of people in employment. 

BUSINESS LEADERS GLOBALLY ‘MUST DO BETTER’

“With Tortoise’s research today showing that only a small minority of the FTSE 100 are actively tackling and addressing disability inclusion at a leadership level; there is plenty more business leaders globally can and must do to better serve the 1.3 billion people worldwide with disabilities,” stated Paul Polman, Chairman of The Valuable 500 and former CEO of Unilever.

The Valuable 500, however, has been working hard to get 500 CEOs to commit to and advance disability inclusion within their organisations. It achieved that target this week, as reported. The membership includes 36 of the FTSE 100 companies, 46 of the Fortune 500 and 28 of the Nikkei. Companies include Allianz, Apple, BBC, BP, The Coca-Cola Company, Daimler, Deloitte, EY, Google, Microsoft, Nestle, P&G, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Prada, Shell, Sky, Sony, Twitter, Unilever, Virgin Media, Verizon and Vodafone.

Now that the goal of 500 organisations has been reached, The Valuable 500 has launched phase 2 of the campaign. “We have broken the leadership silence on disability inclusion and put this on the business leadership agenda,” stated Caroline Casey, Founder of The Valuable 500. “We have now built this unique community and are launching phase 2. For me, the collective activation and innovation of this community for systemic business change has been a lifetime ambition. With the scale of the Valuable 500, change is possible because now we have the scale, the perfect time and the multiplier effect of this critical mass; it’s all about intention.” Click here to read more about the initiatives and Phase 2 goals.