Global Disability Network The Valuable 500 Partners With Omnicom and P&G on Brand Audit

Leaders from companies across industries such as consumer products, professional services, retail, telecommunications and technology are represented in The Valuable 500, including holding company WPP, which completed its goal of reaching the 500 mark this month with the addition of Apple as a partner for inclusive design. For its next phase, the organization is partnering with 13 of its leaders to co-fund, co-build and co-test the programs and solutions to drive change across the community, with participating companies including Allianz, BBC, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Google, Microsoft, Nestle, Sony, Twitter, Unilever, Virgin Media, Verizon and Vodafone.

The brand audit

“We’re giving this community permission to reimagine [their business], in complete alignment with the disability community,” The Valuable 500 founder Caroline Casey explained, adding that people with disabilities tested every initiative from the group.

As part of this next push, Omnicom and P&G are working with The Valuable 500 on the brand audit, with EY and Sky supporting the construction of a global research panel of 5,000 people with disabilities to give direct insight to signatory companies.

“We’re looking forward to partnering with P&G. This is a classic example of how a big company with lots of agencies and clients should be using our position to solve for issues around equity and inclusion,” Emily Graham, who Omnicom appointed as chief equity and impact officer earlier this year, told Adweek. “Working with P&G, we’ll be able to start reimagine both digital and physical brand presence.”

Casey explained that the initiative would use the power of the consumer to enact change, with the audit tool providing the insights necessary to help these companies remove barriers people with disabilities face in accessing experiences and allow them to engage with their companies.

“They have to see where value drives the bottom line,” she told Adweek. “It’s not just a good thing to do; it’s about risk-proofing businesses. They’re worried about how to do it. The word ‘disability’ is a tiny word that covers so much.”

“Omnicom and P&G touch so many brands,” she added, “it’s releasing the conversation.”

Study Shows Brands Need to Do a Better Job Reaching People With Disabilities

“You’re not supposed to know, but you’re supposed to ask”

New research from The Valuable 500 and Tortoise Media ahead of World Accessibility Day on May 20 reveals that there are no executives or senior managers with a disclosed disability in company reporting by the FTSE 100, while only 12% of companies report on the total number of employees who have a disclosed disability and only 5% have made board-level statements about disability inclusion as part of their agenda. Of those that have reported such information, the average representation of people with disabilities amongst employees currently stands at just 3.2%, compared to the percentage of the wider population with a disability at 18%, according to the research.

Nearly a third of these companies (29%) fail to meet website accessibility standards, potentially failing to reach an audience representing a $13 trillion market, comprised of the disposable income of people with disabilities and their friends and family.

The research also shows a growing movement toward process. Sixteen of the FTSE companies have set what it defines as credible targets around representation of people with disabilities, with more companies set to put such goals in place, including 37 companies in the process of establishing employee resource groups or equivalent groups to support people with disabilities.

An initiative from Deloitte and Google will entail an internal census playbook enabling Valuable 500 signatory companies to better understand disability within their workforce and existing barriers to inclusion. Mahindra & Mahindra and Salesforce will facilitate a jobs portal made by people with disabilities to ensure greater access to job opportunities driving more diverse workforces. Sony will drive an initiative around greater representation on- and off-camera for people with disabilities, while Verizon will focus on focused on inclusive technology. The Valuable 500 also secured its largest-ever investment into disability business inclusion, with The Nippon Foundation investing $5 million to support new Valuable 500 initiatives.

“Our job in The Values 500 is to say, ‘You’re not supposed to know, but you’re supposed to ask,'” Casey said. “The biggest problem before this moment is that companies have been made of people genuinely worried about getting it wrong. That fear of not getting it right is what stopped progress.”