Disability
Today, more than one billion people around the world are living with a disability, including EY people, clients, and prospective recruits. Furthermore, eighty percent (80%) of people with a disability acquire it between the ages of 18 years and 64 years — their prime working years.
In 2017, we announced our first ever Accessibility and Inclusion Plan – an ambitious strategy to elevate disability inclusion at EY. Since then, we have come a long way in establishing an inclusive working environment. Visit our current Accessibility & Inclusion Plan here.
EY is a global signatory to the Valuable 500, a coalition of the world’s most influential businesses who are igniting systemic change by unlocking the business, social and economic value of people with disabilities everywhere.
We recently spent 12 months collaborating with the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre on a pilot autism employment program, SwitchedOn. We are really proud of the learnings and impact from this program and are committed to becoming a more accessible and inclusive workplace for neurodivergent people. We now have a ND Community group under the Ability network to help foster belonging and connection for our ND people, we have an internal Neurodiversity November awareness campaign and are focussed on building organisation-wide neuro-inclusive capability through training, resources, toolkits and our Autism Workplace Champions program.
EY is proud to have Silver membership with the Australian Network on Disability (AND). AND brings together the experience and knowledge of hundreds of Australia’s leading organisations. EY offers internships for university students with lived experience of disability through AND’S Stepping Into Program.
The Ability Network seeks to elevate disability inclusion and ensure accessibility in the EY workplace and to recognise the contribution that all our people can bring to the world. The network also has three community groups to foster belonging and connection for our people including our Neurodivergent Community Connect, Parents and Carers Community Connect and our Chronic Health and & Invisible Disabilities Community Connect.
Workplace Adjustments
Making workplace adjustments to support people with disabilities or long-term health conditions can help people to not only perform effectively in their roles but to thrive.
Here are some of the adjustments we’ve made for our people at EY:
- Adjusted responsibilities and workload
- Adjusted hours and working location
- Ergonomic setup
- Priority desks in our flexible workspace environment
- Assistive technologies
- Equipment such as noise cancelling headphones
- Additional support
