Schneider Electric’s Valuable 500 Commitment:
Schneider Electric is an impact company with a mission to bridge progress and sustainability for all. We believe access to energy and digital is a basic human right, and we believe in the power of digital and clean, sustainable energy to advance equity and inclusion. Being an impact company means we want to play our part in creating a world that is more sustainable, and more equitable for everyone. It means we lead with inclusion and care; and we strive to positively impact our people, our company, and our society.
As such, we have committed to providing equal opportunities to everyone, everywhere, and to ensure our employees feel uniquely valued and safe to contribute their best. For us, disability inclusion starts with promoting respect and understanding, and it requires building awareness and educating our employees. Beyond awareness, we are also taking concrete action, looking at disability inclusion holistically with a strategy based on four pillars (below) whilst including the V500 ESG and disability data KPIs: Workforce Representation, Goals, Training, Employee Resource Groups, and Digital Accessibility.
- Customer First inclusive and accessible design: Moving forward, we will work on applying universal design principles and accessibility by design to Schneider Electric’s products, solutions, software, and services design, thus taking into account the needs of people with disabilities, and in turn, providing an inclusive offer.
- People, Processes and Tools: We will work towards making our current policies, HR systems, tools and processes – including those used in recruitment– inclusive and fully accessible. Moving forward, when creating new policies, processes and tools, we will apply the principle of “accessibility by design” and ensure that accessibility is embedded in the design process from its inception. We will also build accessibility into our procurement process, to ensure that we work with vendors that can provide us with inclusive solutions that fit our accessibility needs. Our roadmap includes disability inclusion training for all Schneider employees. We aim to establish country-driven ERGs with local Executive Sponsorship and budget.
- Brand and Communication: We want to ensure that all of our communications are accessible to all, and easy to navigate for those of us who use assistive technology. We also want our meetings and events to be accessible to all. This will apply to all events, digital and in-person. When it comes to the digital space, we will work with our IT teams to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
- Physical workplaces: We commit to making our workplaces and premises inclusive, accessible, and welcoming to all. Our workplace policy stipulates mandatory requirements with reference to ISO International Accessibility Standards. “Nothing about us, without us”: To ensure fully inclusive workplaces, an Accessibility, Inclusion, and Care workshop is to be facilitated as an integral piece of the workplace project to collect, include and define all requirements for our future workplaces.
To execute this strategy, Schneider Electric has two Executive Sponsors in place, and has created a Disability Inclusion and Accessibility Office working in close collaboration with a global employee network composed of people with disabilities and allies, hailing from different businesses, functions and countries. This collaboration will ensure Schneider Electric’s efforts towards disability inclusion are co-created with people with experiences of disability.
