Today, I am proud to share that Salesforce has been named Disability:IN’s 2021 Employer of the Year and received the top score of 100 on the Disability Equality Index (DEI®) for the third consecutive year.
The Employer of the Year award recognizes a company whose initiatives have created measurable results in disability inclusiveness in the workplace, marketplace, accessibility, and supply chain globally. The DEI is a comprehensive benchmarking tool that scores companies on a scale of zero to 100, helping them build a roadmap of measurable, tangible actions that they can take to achieve disability, inclusion, and equality.
A commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility
Focusing on accessibility, creating a culture of inclusion and celebrating people’s differences isn’t just the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing. It empowers us to innovate, build deeper connections with our employees, customers, and ultimately become a better company.
In fact, when we intentionally include people with disabilities in our culture and design process, we create experiences and products that are truly accessible to a global community.
While Salesforce’s recognition is something to celebrate and a chance to acknowledge our culture of inclusion, it is also a time to share the work that lies ahead.
We understand the work is never done to create a fair, equitable, and inclusive workplace for all. This extends to how we think about our products, events and experiences, as we continue toward our goal to be the world’s most accessible company.
Efforts to date
Last year, we opened our Office of Accessibility and it withstood a global pandemic — so I am hopeful the team can do anything.
It was, however, a learning journey. We learned from our employees with disabilities, and we had countless conversations with peers and partners in the space — those who are just starting out, and those who are farther along on their own accessibility journeys.
Now, we are taking those learnings and laying them out in a strategy; introducing new programs and policies to make our workplace more inclusive. We believe that working closely with our partners and our incredible employee resource group, Abilityforce, we will be able to make a more meaningful impact.
Examples of our work thus far include:
- Partnering with Disability:IN to create the “Digital Accessibility and Other Best Practices for Remote Working” guide to ensure virtual meetings, events, and the resulting materials are accessible to everyone.
- Partnering with The Valuable 500 to create a global job platform made by people with disabilities for people with disabilities.
- Given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, we launched a partnership with the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT) to support their Salesforce Administration Certification Prep Course by providing certification and recertification vouchers along with a grant to fund the salaries for on-the-job training.
Growing together
We are fortunate to have leaders at Salesforce that advocate for these important issues, making accessibility a topic of conversation at the highest level.
The hope is that these messages will continue to spread throughout the company and into our community of partners, customers, and peers. We are also sharing our learnings and resources along the way in hopes that others will follow and help to close the disability unemployment gap together because we know no one person or one company can create the change alone.
Learn more about Salesforce’s work on accessibility.
