Business leaders from 500 of the world’s biggest companies have agreed to publish quarterly reports into disability representation, amid evidence of a lack of progress tackling diversity among multinational firms.
The Valuable 500 global disability network said it had reached its target to get 500 major companies to put disability inclusion on their boardroom agenda, including companies such as Microsoft, Unilever, Google and Coca-Cola.
Launched at the annual Davos gathering of business leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum in 2019, the organisation represents firms with annual revenue worth more than $8tn (£5.7tn), and employing more than 19 million employees across 36 countries.
It said its members would be held accountable to raising disability representation through quarterly updates and reporting on their progress, aiming to tackle the “shocking state” of disability representation in business.
According to research published by the Valuable 500, there are no executives or senior managers who have disclosed a disability at any of the UK’s biggest firms in the FTSE 100, while only 12% report on the total number of employees who are disclosed as disabled.
The findings show the average representation of people with disabilities among employees is only 3.2%, compared with the [...]