Reporting on disability-related data is critical to ensuring disability inclusion is embedded within companies. We believe that adopting and publicly reporting on standardised disability inclusion Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will allow for better oversight of how companies perform on an individual level and enable comparison amongst peers. Doing so will also unearth drivers of change that were once not well understood.
The System Barrier
Disability inclusion is strikingly absent from standardised key performance indicators, metrics or targets through which organisations measure their impact, performance, and the value they bring to society. The exclusion of disability and related topics, such as accessibility from investor-grade environmental, social and governance (ESG) data has far-reaching implications across the landscape of global business because of the sheer size and scale of the population with disabilities.
In some cases, businesses are too fearful of sharing this information, which stops change from occurring.
Disability inclusion can only become a priority for companies and their stakeholders when the current state is more visible.
The Opportunity
The Valuable 500 has a critical role to play in setting a precedent for disability inclusion in business and providing a means for companies to be incentivised for their contributions to ending disability exclusion. Amongst Valuable 500 partners and companies, 22% have already disclosed their workforce representation of disability and this offers us an initial baseline to measure progress.
By creating visibility of disability-related data and encouraging all companies to share their current position and ongoing progress, we can increase the importance of disability inclusion on the business agenda.
The Synchronised Collective Action
In conjunction with Allianz and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the Valuable 500 launched its white paper entitled ‘ESG and Disability Data: A call for inclusive reporting’. In it we call for the Valuable 500 partners and companies to adopt and disclose against five Disability Inclusion KPIs within their Annual Reports and Accounts (ARAs), sustainability reports, materiality assessments, and investor dialogue. By doing this, we will be creating a consistent and comparable baseline from which to measure progress on disability inclusion.
“We support the Valuable 500’s five disability inclusion KPIs and look forward to the opportunity to work with other Iconic companies to bring harmonized disability data into the mainstream of business performance.”
Teresa Hutson, VP, Technology and Corporate Responsibility, Microsoft
