Disability diversity and inclusion from Unisys and Google

Disability inclusion is reaching new levels of success, with global search engine Google and IT company Unisys both participating in diversifying their businesses. 

Unisys Corporation announced that its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has been recognised with a perfect score in the 2021 Disability Equality Index. The score of 100% signifies Unisys as a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion.”

Earlier this week, Google declared a partnership with Stanford University, in a bid to neuro-diversify its workforce, through recruiting people with autism.

Encouraging diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace

The Disability Equality Index is a benchmarking tool which helps companies build a roadmap of measurable actions to achieve disability inclusion and equality. 

Each company receives a score, on a scale of zero (0) to 100, with those earning 80 and above recognized as a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion.”

Recent efforts to encourage diversity, equity and inclusion at Unisys include:

• The founding of a disability focused employee resource group
• Optional disability inclusion training
• Zoom closed-captioning
• Specifically measuring engagement of employees with disabilities as part of the annual engagement survey process
• New health insurance benefits including hearing aid coverage.

Disability inclusion is ‘an evolving journey’

Disability:IN are thrilled with the results.

“Part of corporate commitment to disability inclusion is recognising your stance and using it to drive the business investments needed to scale change”, said Jill Houghton, President and CEO, Disability:IN. “Inclusion and accessibility cuts across the enterprise, from cultural representation in the workforce, to technology acceleration, to incorporating supply chain diversity. These are tangible opportunities that leading companies can leverage to create sustainable impact for their business and brand.”

Unisys reflected that while it had worked hard to build a compassionate, inclusive culture, the journey was not over. In fact, disability inclusion will be ongoing. 

“Unisys has worked hard to build a business that drives innovation and opportunities for all of our associates”, said Wendy Reynolds-Dobbs, global leader of DEI at Unisys. “We are proud of our efforts to invite different perspectives and diversity of thought. However, we also recognise that this rating, while prestigious, does not mean that our work is done. DEI must be an evolving journey for every organisation, so that we can all continue to nurture inclusive environments that fuel new ways of accomplishing goals and where everyone can succeed.”