Employee-centric policies and programs significantly improve feelings of inclusion for People with Disabilities (PwD)

?? Organizations can significantly improve feelings of inclusion for People With Disabilities through 3 targeted actions: Investing in employee-centric policies and programs, providing mentorship programs, and offering reasonable accommodations. Among employees with disabilities whose organizations invest heavily in employee-centric policies and programs, have the lowest attrition risk and are the happiest employees, according to a new interesting research published by 波士顿谘询公司 researchers - using data from nearly 28,000 employees in 16 countries during the summer and fall of 2022.

Researchers discovered that companies significantly underestimate the number of their people with disabilities - so employers are missing out on helping employees bring their full selves to work.?Indeed, most organizations say their workforce includes relatively few people with disabilities: just 4% to 7% BUT researchers found that some 25% of people said they have a disability or health condition that limits a major life activity.

Researchers used the BCG’s BLISS Index, a comprehensive, statistically rigorous tool that identifies the factors that influence feelings of inclusion in the workplace and meaningfully correlate with retention.

?High investment in employee-centric policies and programs elevates the inclusion experience for ALL employees

Researchers found that among employees with disabilities whose organizations invest heavily in employee-centric policies and programs - across some 60 policies and programs intended to improve the employee experience - average BLISS Index scores rose to within approximately 1 point of the score for employees without disabilities in similarly inclusive environments.

?? Investment in employee-centric programs improves inclusion scores across the board. People who didn't identify as having a disability or health condition also had substantially better feelings of inclusion in high- versus low-investment environments: a 20-point jump in the BLISS Index score.

?The benefits of investing in employee-centric policies and programs

Researchers found that investing in employee-centric policies and programs reduces?attrition risk?for all employees by more than half but with an outsize impact on PwD, whose reduced risk is 1.5 times greater than that of nondisabled employees.

This investment improves also?disclosure rates:?81% of PwD in high-investment organizations have disclosed their disability or health condition to their employer whereas just 67% of those in low-investment organizations have done so

?Mentorship brings many benefits for All employees

?? Feelings of inclusion: Researchers found that?having a mentor improves feelings of inclusion for employees with disabilities.

The average BLISS Index score for mentored PwD is nearly 8 points higher than that of disabled employees without a mentor.

?? Happiness at work: Also researchers found that mentorship improves happiness at work: 77% of PwD with a mentor say they are happy versus 57% of PwD without a mentor.

?? Risk of Attrition.?PwD with a mentor report less than half the attrition risk: 4% with mentors say they are likely to leave within a year, but 10% without a mentor say they are likely to leave within that time frame.

Researchers also discovered that people with disabilities who have a mentor are more likely to disclose their disability or health condition to their employer : 79% of PwD who have a mentor have disclosed their disability compared with 68% of PwD who don’t have a mentor.

?? This suggests that having an advocate who supports and coaches them makes people feel comfortable about revealing a disability or health condition.

Finally researchers recommend to infuse disability inclusion and accessibility into policies and programs: set and publish ambitions for disability representation and inclusion metrics and incorporate disability representatives on interview panels. Besides, they suggest to encourage senior leaders to share their own experiences with disability and health conditions.

Thank you ?? 波士顿谘询公司 ??researchers team for these insightful findings: Hillary Wool ,? Brad Loftus ,? Miguel Carrasco Ruth Ebeling Ashley Dartnell Gretchen May Kaitlin Roh Lucia Marchione and all cited persons in this report: Ellen Halle , Raul Vila Olazabal Angelica Sinay , Blake (Tianyu) Wang Olivia G.

Dave Ulrich ?George Kemish LLM MCMI MIC ??

#futureofwork ?#peopleanalytics ?#DEI ?#EX