Getting a job is a key step to achieving financial independence. For people with disabilities, finding work can be challenging, as they may face barriers like discriminatory hiring practices or inaccessible physical work spaces. Here are examples of some companies that hire people with disabilities, implementing inclusive programs for seeking out and fostering talent and creating communities focused on advocating for accessibility.
Companies That Hire People With Disabilties
- Novo Nordisk
- firsthand
- PepsiCo
- CVS Health
- AT&T
- United Health Group
- GSK
Companies That Hire People With Disabilities
Northwestern Mutual specializes in insurance and financial planning solutions, connecting its clients with advisors and other resources that are meant to set them up for a financially secure future. The company says it’s committed to “building an inspiring, inclusive culture where everyone can bring their best self to the workplace,” and that work is reflected in the company’s employee resource groups. Upwards of 2,000 Northwestern Mutual employees participate in those ERGs, which includes the disABILITY Alliance.
Liberty Mutual is an international insurance company employing approximately 45,000 professionals across its operations. The company seeks to build “a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace,” and its Able@Liberty + Allies employee resources group focuses on fostering a supportive work culture for people with disabilities as well as family members and caregivers of people with disabilities. It brings team members together to promote awareness and has contributed to initiatives to make Liberty Mutual’s digital assets more accessible, for example, and identify opportunities to increase accessibility in physical workspaces.
Spectrum provides internet, TV, mobile and home phone service to millions of customers. Under the umbrella of its inclusivity efforts, Spectrum has multiple business resource groups for employee networking and development. That includes Spectrum Disability, which unites team members in advocating for important workplace accommodations. Spectrum also established a team specifically dedicated to enhancing accessibility among its products and services, with the goal of creating equitable experiences for both customers and employees.
Novo Nordisk is an international company focused on chronic disease treatment, prevention and care access. It’s been around for upwards of a century and has thousands of employees working in locations across multiple countries on pharmaceuticals and treatment innovations to address type 1 and type 2 diabetes, growth hormone-related disorders, cardiovascular disease and other disease areas. Novo Nordisk’s workforce includes people with disabilities who can participate in the AllAbility employee resource group, which aims to promote disability awareness and education and foster “an authentic, open and honest environment” for community building.
Healthtech company firsthand provides support and care for people with mental illness. Covering both digital and in-person support through a network of guides and resources, firsthand is dedicated to community care and delivering wellness services to underserved populations. The company hires team members with both physical and mental health disabilities. In fact, a substantial portion of its employees bring lived experience with serious mental illness and/or substance use disorder.
PepsiCo is a multinational food and beverage corporation that oversees the manufacturing, production and distribution of many iconic food products, including the eponymous Pepsi family of products as well as Quaker Oats, Tropicana and Gatorade. The company advocates for disability accessibility, inclusion and equity through an initiative in partnership with Disability Solutions, which provides disability inclusion training to managers and promotes attracting and retaining employees with disabilities.
CVS Health provides prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and retail health, wellness, beauty and personal care products. The company operates through a network of nearly 10,000 brick and mortar stores as well as digital storefronts. CVS Health employees can access the CapAbilities Colleague Resource Group, which provides coaching and networking services for employees with disabilities to empower them in the workplace.
AT&T offers services in wireless communications, data and internet, telephone and managed networking for organizations. As the employer of more than 160,000 people, over 7,000 of whom self-identify as disabled, AT&T has explicitly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion for people with disabilities. It maintains an employee resource group along with multiple partnerships to support employees with disabilities.
UnitedHealth Group is a healthcare and wellness organization that provides services through two companies: United Healthcare, which offers full-spectrum health benefit coverage, and Optum, which uses tech and data to serve customers with optimized healthcare options. UnitedHealth Group says disability inclusion is a priority across the organization. For example, United operates a disability inclusion internship program, which attracts top talent with skills training, flexible schedule options and competitive pay with a path to permanent employment.
GSK is a biopharma company that makes vaccines and medications for the global market. The company’s origins date back to 1715, when it began as a local pharmacy in London. Today, it employs nearly 70,000 team members. As part of its DEIB efforts, GSK established the internal Disability Confidence Network, an employee resource group that pledges disability inclusion and workplace accessibility, along with its Global Disability Council. The company is also part of the Valuable 500, a network of global companies with a shared purpose of “accelerating disability inclusion through business.”