Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities

What makes a company an inclusive and accommodating workplace to attract people with disabilities? The criteria includes: recruiting programs for people with disabilities; work/life and other accommodation benefits; diversity-awareness training that addresses people with disabilities; employee-resource groups for people with disabilities and/or caregivers; and communications, such as web sites and other materials, that feature employees with disabilities.

Consider the following about the companies on this year's top 10 list:

• All have at least one resource group for employees with disabilities.
• All offer dependent-care benefits (including childcare and eldercare).
• All feature images and/or video of people with disabilities on their corporate web sites.
• Eighty percent offer alternative career tracks for parents or others with long-term family-care issues.
• Eighty percent have mandatory diversity training for all employees.

No. 1: IBM Corp.

IBM offers diversity training that includes "What Every Employee Should Know About Harassment and Inappropriate Conduct, People with Disabilities" guidelines. Globally, the company provides disability-awareness training to all employees to ensure sensitivity to even micro-inequities, small gestures that can easily offend others. With the help of the Global Disability Networking Group, IBM introduced Accessibility & Disability Central—a web-based application that helps identify accommodation needs (such as computer-screen readers and live captioning for teleconferences), as well as accommodation options and sources, and tracks the progress. In addition, the company has active programs to recruit, mentor and train people with disabilities.

No. 2: Ernst & Young

The company has very strong work/life programs for people with disabilities, including telecommuting, dependent-care benefits and alternative career tracks for parents or others with long-term family-care issues. In addition, Ernst & Young offers disability-awareness training, which includes awareness quizzes, to all global employees and has active programs to recruit people with disabilities globally. The company also creates a poster each year for National Disability Employment Awareness Month to further raise awareness.

No. 3: Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble has had its People With Disabilities Interest Groups for more than 10 years. These groups, such as its Employees With Eldercare and Parents of Special Needs Children, aids the company in recruiting, retaining and training employees with disabilities. 

No. 4: Aetna

The company has very strong work/life programs for people with disabilities, including telecommuting, dependent-care benefits and alternative career tracks for parents or others with long-term family-care issues. More notably, Aetna has an onsite fitness center, physical therapy, a pharmacy, an employee-assistance program, and massage services.

No. 5: KPMG

KPMG's Disabilities Network helps the firm with recruitment and retention, regularly solicits and obtains feedback from members about diversity issues and holds national training events to recognize National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

No. 6: Cisco Systems

The company offers work/life programs for people with disabilities such as telecommuting, dependent-care benefits, alternative career tracks for parents or others with long-term family-care issues, healthcare incentives, an onsite fitness center, health center and pharmacy.

No. 7: SC Johnson

SC Johnson clearly places an emphasis on support for people with disabilities. The company, with just fewer than 3,200 U.S. employees, has three groups for people with disabilities. The groups—Abilities First Business Council, Elder Care Giver Support Group and Parents of Special Needs Children Support Group—help the company with recruitment and marketing efforts.

No. 8: Eli Lilly & Co.


The company has numerous comprehensive work/life programs for people with disabilities. Among them are the company's onsite medical services. The services are at no cost to employees (dependents, including domestic partners) and include personal ambulatory care through staff physicians, psychologists and nurses.

No. 9: Merck & Co.

The Differently Able Global Constituency Group (DA GCG), Merck's global resource group for people with disabilities, aids the company in offering disability-awareness training to all global employees. DA GCG also helps to recruit people with disabilities globally.

No. 10: Sodexo

The company offers disability-awareness training to all of its employees and has active programs to recruit people with disabilities. Sodexo's Organization of disAbilities Resources (SOAR) helps the company with its recruitment and marketing efforts.

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