When Pepsi aired a Superbowl commercial featuring deaf actors who communicated in sign language, the ad became an instant hit. Though an agency created the ad, credit for the idea went to EnAble, Pepsi’s employee network for people with disabilities.
EnAble dug up leadership’s support for the ad, helped with the concept and even convinced one of Pepsi’s own employees to play the role of a football fan in the commercial.
“We’re encouraging our employees with disabilities to speak up,” says Massimo d’Amore, CEO of PepsiCo Americas Beverages who is also the executive sponsor of EnAble. “We’re creating a culture so that their contributions are valued and they feel successful.”
Employee networks for people with disabilities are a growing trend among companies. They are often set up similar to other networks of people who share a characteristic such as race, sexual orientation, or religion.
Much more than a basic support group, employee networks for people with disabilities offer practical and business benefits for employers as well as career and professional development opportunities for members.
Companies can harness the power a disability employee network for their product development and marketing initiatives. People with disabilities comprise the largest minority group in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Collectively this group spends $200 billion a year on items like food, appliances and travel.
Gleaning the perspective of a consumer with a disability through such networks can help companies understand the needs of a diverse marketplace. For example, Ford’s disabilities group, Ford Employees Dealing with DisAbilities (FEDA), works with the company to help make Ford the vehicle of choice for customers with disabilities. And Prudential Financial’s ADAPT group helps the financial advisory firm identify and market new products to customers with disabilities.
Disability networks also foster diversity and inclusiveness within a company, and can serve as a recruitment tool. For example, LimeConnect, an organization that helps connect companies with qualified people with disabilities for internships and jobs, partners with the employee networks of Google, Target and Goldman Sachs to set up campus job fairs and recruiting events.
At Ernst & Young, there are around 300 members of AccessAbilities, the company’s disability employee network, says Lori Golden, who heads up the group. The company holds lunch-and-learn events around disabilities issues and also recruits Abilities Champions, who look for ways to incorporate disabilities educational content into E&Y’s communications, meetings, training, and activities. “For example, a new employee orientation meeting might include a disability awareness quiz and cover disabilities-friendly language, etiquette and work habits,” Golden says.
An emerging trend in disability networks is creating a forum for employees whose family members may have a disability. There are lots of crucial issues to examine, such as special needs planning, family time off for caregiving, and finding resources for financial and emotional support.
For example, E&Y’s AccessAbilities network also includes people who might have a temporary disability, a family or friend with a disability, or they might have had professional, educational or community service experience with disabilities, says Golden.
A successful employee network should support the objectives of the organization and have strong support from top executives. They should be formal and organized, with a mission, goals and meeting agendas. “Employees have to know that their group is a business priority and not just ‘something nice to do,’” say Nadine Vogel, President of Springboard Consulting and author of Dive In, a new book about employing a special needs workforce.
Above all, employee networks should be strictly voluntary. One distinction with disability employee networks is that some disabilities, like a learning disorder, are invisible. Members should not be required to disclose anything upon joining a disability network, and if they do so it should be kept confidential.
For people with disabilities, disability networks are a great benefit to their everyday jobs, and serve as a reminder that their needs are being listened to in the corporate community. And using a disability network to build a “disability friendly” culture is one of the smartest things an organization can do to strengthen their reputation as a diverse, forward-thinking and values-driven company.
Suzanne Robitaille is the founder and editor in chief of Abledbody.com.
