03.12.21: Today, on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Valuable 500 – the largest network of global CEOs committed to diversity – announces a series of new commitments by some of the world’s leading employers.

Whilst there has been a growing awareness around disability inclusion in the past year, it still doesn’t have its deserved share of voice within the diversity & inclusion agenda.  It is often a forgotten aspect in this conversation – particularly when it comes to business leadership. The Valuable 500 is working to tackle this critical issue, and these latest set of commitments aim to close this gap within several sectors.

The latest commitments come from the CEOs of PepsiCo, PwC, Spotify, VMware, L’Oréal, Zurich Insurance, The Estée Lauder Companies, Schlumberger, Sky and Steelcase.

Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, has reinforced PepsiCo’s commitment to prioritise disability inclusion and will accelerate its efforts to support associates with disabilities, and care givers of people with disabilities, to perform at their best through proactive and inclusive practices. Initiatives underway that fortify this commitment include continuing to provide real-time sign language translation in key internal meetings and trainings; continuing its PepsiACT initiative in the U.S., a partnership with non-profit Disability Solutions Ability Beyond, which identifies job opportunities across PepsiCo operations and trained more than 150 managers and supervisors to retain talented individuals with disabilities; and the launch of MAYA– a new and innovative bot which automatically translates PepsiCo’s Portuguese career site content into Brazilian sign language. More than 400,000 sites were translated in 2020, bringing accessibility for more than 4,000 people.

Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, has committed to accessibility improvements with the aim of better serving its community of diverse and differently-abled listeners and creators. To optimize its immersive listening experiences, the streaming service changed the colour, text format and size of the navigation buttons for individuals with low vision and visual impairment. In addition, users may increase the text size on their mobile phones to accommodate their specific needs. The app also auto-generates transcripts for select original and exclusive podcasts – allowing those who are hearing impaired to read the show’s text either with or without sound. Spotify is keeping accessibility top of mind when it comes to its employees – or bandmates, as they call them – as well. The company is currently redesigning all its office spaces to be inclusive and has launched its Work From Anywhere policy to support employees to live and work where they work at their best.

Oliver le Peuch, CEO of Schlumberger has committed to new policies including expanding employee education to include building disability confidence and awareness, performing self-assessments in pilot locations to evaluate its work environment friendliness for persons with disabilities and supporting the creation of an Employee Resource Group. In addition to this Schlumberger has committed to review its recruiting practices to ensure it hires more persons with disabilities and to inspire young people with a disability through science education.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L’Oréal committed to promote the recruitment of persons with disabilities in all countries with a global goal of at least 2% of employees with disabilities by 2025. In addition to this, L’Oréal encourages employees to disclose their disabilities and works hard to raise awareness and combat stigma and stereotypes to challenge how people think about disabilities. L’Oréal aims to promote both physically and digitally accessible workplaces, and the company collaborates with experts, associations, NGOs and with its suppliers, consumers and local communities to advance disability inclusion both within and outside the Group.

Raghu Raghuram, CEO of VMware has committed to building disability inclusion into the company’s leadership agenda, including initiatives such as training employees to make informed inquiries about accessibility when procuring new software, working with vendors to make existing software solutions more accessible and launching Crest, an open-source machine learning-based automated accessibility testing tool that helps developers build more accessible software, improve compliance with ADA guidelines and boost accessibility for people with disabilities. In addition, VMware is fostering a culture that promotes self-identification and enablement and creating accessible and equitable experiences from the moment someone applies for a job at the company.

Mario Greco, Group CEO of Zurich Insurance, has ensured that inclusion of all employees is on the agenda of senior leadership and commits to setting up a global Employee Resource Group (ERG) and improving physical and digital accessibility across Zurich’s locations worldwide. The global ERG will contain local chapters in national entities, integrating the already established ERGs across a diverse range of topics, representing employee voices at Group level.

Fabrizio Freda, President and CEO of The Estée Lauder Companies, is deeply committed to facilitating a culture of equity, inclusion, and belonging within the company and its communities. Under his leadership, the company has made progress to support its collective vision to be the most inclusive and diverse beauty company in the world, and to be both the employer of choice for diverse talent and the brands of choice for diverse consumers. In support of disability inclusion, the company has fostered an inclusive recruitment process, promoted digital inclusion and accessibility of communication, delivered unconscious bias and inclusive leadership trainings, and launched supplier diversity initiatives, among other initiatives.

Sky, Europe’s leading media and entertainment company, will mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities by launching its first ever content collection focusing on amplifying powerful and inspiring documentaries featuring people with disabilities. This content collection is an example of how Sky is continuing to use its platform to push for change. By sharing unique stories, Sky hopes to amplify underrepresented communities and help educate people about different experiences. The content collection includes Hawking: Can You Hear Me? (Sky Documentaries), Alex Brooker: Disability and Me (BBC), and Stacey Dooley Sleep’s Over – Living with Down’s Syndrome (W).

Sara Armbruster, Steelcase President and CEO, has committed to shining a spotlight on designing for disability and inclusion in Steelcase workplaces, supporting organizations around the world in creating workplace solutions designed for inclusion and participating in an inclusive design community of interest where diversity and design can come together to inform the evolution of a better work experience for all.

Launched at Davos in January 2019 by Caroline Casey and Paul Polman, the Valuable 500 remains the only global CEO community dedicated to radically transforming the business system across the whole supply chain for the benefit of all those with a disability. In May 2021, the Valuable 500 reached its milestone of 500 of the world’s largest organisations signing up to disability commitment.

The membership includes 36 of the FTSE 100 companies, 48 of the Fortune 500 and 28 of the Nikkei. Almost three quarters (70%) of its members have a turnover of over $1 billion, with half (52%) of those committed to the campaign employing more than 10,000 people. The organisations supporting the Valuable 500 have a combined revenue of well over $8 trillion and over 21 million employees across 41 countries.

Now in phase two of the campaign, the Valuable 500 is calling for a shift in mentality, and for business and society alike to make the next decade the decade of disruption when it comes to disability inclusion. Ensuring disability inclusion is firmly embedded within the whole business supply chain will not be achieved in a single day of awareness – but it can be a critical focus for the next ten years as the world looks to build back better.

Seven targets, relating to five out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, specifically mention persons with disabilities hence the Valuable 500’s mission will be integral to meeting the UN’s 2030 agenda in time over the next decade. Currently, 15% of the global population are persons with disabilities. This number increases to 53% when you include the families of those living with persons with disabilities. Businesses cannot afford to exclude such a significant pool of talent, diversity of thought and customers with a spending power of $13 trillion per annum.

Today is a day for celebrating the immense contribution persons with disabilities bring to business and society more broadly – this 15% of the global population bring diversity of thought and lived experience and a wealth of talent, all vital for the business sustainability agenda. This year’s theme of UN IDPD highlights “Leadership of the new generations: Children and adolescents with disabilities and their voices post COVID-19”. Leadership is a fundamental principle of The Valuable 500 which aims to radically transform the business ecosystem to being inclusive for all. But today must also be a day of reflection, because we are not there yet with disability inclusion, and a fair and accessible society for all.

When it comes to disability inclusion, we believe there is no time like now. We are delighted to see how we are already moving from commitments to action to make change happen. It’s great to see these latest commitments from our members. We believe in collaboration rather than competition and the multiplier effect of the collective impact of 500 leading CEOs and brands. I am confident that over the next decade, if the business community pulls together and stands united in ensuring disability inclusion is a central part of their leadership agenda, we can truly make a difference globally across the next decade.

Caroline Casey, Founder of the Valuable 500

 


CEO Quotes

Raising the Bar on Talent and Diversity is a key behaviour of our culture, The PepsiCo Way. For decades, we have made our company better and more competitive by building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive space for our associates, business partners, and society. Through inclusive practices such as offering ongoing sign language training, enhanced disability benefits, and self-identification, we are ensuring our associates have the tools they need to achieve their maximum potential. Whilst we continue our journey from awareness to commitment and action, as a member of the Valuable 500, we will use our collective power and reach across industries to catalyse positive change for our associates and the communities we serve.

Ramon Laguarta, CEO of PepsiCo

Disability inclusion – inclusion of all kinds – continues to be a priority for PwC as we build trust and drive sustained outcomes to be a force for positive change in the business community. We strive to foster an environment where people with disabilities face no barriers, feel empowered to be themselves and have access to the support and adjustments they need to thrive. We’re proud to be a member of the Valuable 500.

Bob Moritz, PwC Global Chairman

Audio is such an important part of the lives of so many across the globe, so it’s critical for Spotify to be accessible and equal for everyone. Our dedicated Accessibility team is focused on creating inclusive experiences for all and will continue to ensure we are building a product with accessibility at its core.” said Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify. “Our platform can amplify the voices, stories and cultures of marginalized and underrepresented communities around the world. We will continue to develop our support for artists and creators with disabilities and use our platform to share their talents.

Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify

VMware is honoured to be a part of the Valuable 500. Technology will play a critical role in building an equitable, accessible, and inclusive digital future for all. We are committed to creating systemic change to promote disability inclusion, from ensuring the technology we develop is accessible for all to empowering our employees through innovative engagement and wellbeing programs. We are proud to be driving meaningful change in the areas of disability, wellness, and neurodiversity inclusion as part of our 2030 Agenda.

Raghu Raghuram, CEO of VMware

L’Oréal has been committed to inclusion of people with disabilities for over 20 years, a key part of our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion strategy, and we recognize that we need to continue to accelerate our efforts. Being part of the Valuable 500 community enables us to share our experiences, learn from others and be part of a collective force united in favor of inclusion of our employees, consumers and communities.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L’Oréal

The key focus will be on removing barriers, stigmas and taboos, and to foster an environment where people with all abilities or wellbeing challenges feel they can succeed. More specifically, the aim is to foster a company culture that attracts and retains diverse talent, create awareness of disability-inclusive communication, and recognise key dates like International Day of People with Disabilities.

Mario Greco, Group CEO of Zurich Insurance

We are deeply committed to doing even more to facilitate a culture of equity, inclusion, and belonging within our company and our communities. We are proud to partner with the Valuable 500 as part of our commitment to taking action to drive disability inclusion, ensuring an accessible and equitable environment for all.

Fabrizio Freda, CEO of The Estée Lauder Companies

Schlumberger has a long history of championing diversity and we continue to work towards creating an inclusive environment where everyone can be their best and contribute to our success. Today, we pledge to expand our inclusivity mindset to encompass disability diversity, and I am excited to share this journey. Our commitment to join the Valuable 500 is an important milestone. Our membership of this community will help us to drive and support disability inclusion and confidence within our team, and we will be recognizing the International Day of Persons with Disabilities with the launch of our ThisAbility Network Employee Resource Group.

Oliver le Peuch, CEO of Schlumberger

Sky is proud to have our first content collection highlighting powerful documentaries representing people with disabilities. We know that representation is a powerful thing and being able to find yourself onscreen matters. Sky is committed to working with the Valuable 500 to help remove barriers and encourage design and inclusion for all abilities.

Dana Strong, Group Chief Executive, Sky

At Steelcase, unlocking human promise has been core to who we are since we were founded more than a century ago, and it’s important our mission applies to everyone at work. Designing for people is in our DNA, and we’re delighted to join other organizations looking for ways to leverage design to create more inclusive and welcoming environments for people with disabilities.

Sara Armbruster, Steelcase President and CEO

Media Contacts:

For interviews and further information, please contact:

Amy Shaw, Campaign Director, Seven Hills

 

Richard Poston, Director of Communications, The Valuable 500

Email:  [email protected]


Notes to Editors

The Valuable 500 was launched by social entrepreneur and activist Caroline Casey at One Young World 2017 in Bogota, Colombia and the inception of the Valuable 500 was announced at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January 2019. Today the Valuable 500 is the largest community of global CEOs committed to disability inclusion in business.

Since its creation, the Valuable 500 has achieved its initial goal of persuading 500 multinational organisations to make a public commitment to disability inclusion in their organisation, igniting a historic global movement for a new age of diversity in business. The Valuable 500 and their global impact partner The Nippon Foundation, will be working closely with the World Economic Forum and International Disability Alliance – bringing together a leading philanthropic organisation with the most prestigious global business network and the voice of the global disability community.

By engaging with the world’s most influential business leaders and brands, the network now has a combined revenue of over $8 trillion and employs a staggering 21 million people worldwide. Its members include 13 global CEOs and companies who will be spearheading the programmes and services to be offered under Phase 2 of the campaign, which will be activated through global disability surveys, disability trend reports and an executive disability resource hub.

After reaching this important milestone, the Valuable 500 is determined to create a community that supports and empowers its 500 members to systematically transform their businesses so that they include the 1.3 billion people living with disabilities worldwide, thereby unlocking their business, social and economic potential.

We believe that if business takes a lead, society and government will follow, truly inclusive businesses can build truly inclusive societies.