Lowe’s hired more than 150 new workers with disabilities in the first year of their program, and an additional 250 workers in the following 18-month period. Among the new hires, turnover and absences were lower than or equal to that of other Lowe’s employees. After 18 months, Lowe’s committed to expanding the program nationally, hiring a full-time disability employment expert to oversee the process.
Procter & Gamble has also been instrumental in promoting diversity in their manufacturing plants. The Auburn, ME, plant has a customization module where more than 40% of the employees have some form of developmental or physical disability. This model—as well as others like it at the Lima, OH, and Dover, DE, plants—is being pursued across other U.S. manufacturing and distribution sites.
The company has earned great praise for its diversity and inclusion practices and was recently ranked number one on DiversityInc’s list of top employers for people with disabilities. The commitment to inclusion extends to accessible workplace technology used by their own employees and the products we build for our customers. Our technology tools are accessible to our customers.
Meijer, a retailer with stores throughout the Midwest, has employed people with disabilities for more than 20 years and has excelled in creating a workplace where they work with each employee as an individual to provide a proper job fit, according to their abilities. Meijer is also founding member of a large-retailer, knowledge exchange group , which focuses on promoting best practices for hiring persons with significant disabilities.
