Building inclusive workplaces for Persons with Disability

THE Philippine Business and Disability Network (PBDN) invites interested employers and organizations to join the “Working Beyond Barriers: 1st Annual Conference on Disability Inclusion in the Workplace.” Held on July 20 and 21, 2022 from 1 to 5 p.m. via Zoom Webinar, it is a two and a half-day online gathering of business and industry leaders who collectively work towards building inclusive workplaces for Persons with Disability.

The conference will feature various topics that focus on opportunities and challenges in disability inclusion in the workplace, and policies and practices that promote participation and representation of Persons with Disability. The topics will also allow the audience to gain a more holistic understanding of disability inclusion by featuring the perspectives of key players, such as the person with disability community, businesses and organizations, and the government, and to drive them to realize their key role to achieve inclusion in all types of workplaces.

The conference is presented and organized by PBDN through its event sponsors and partners. PBDN is a country-level platform, for and by businesses, that works towards more inclusive and barrier-free workplaces for Persons with Disability. It envisions a Philippines where Persons with Disability can actively participate in, and productively contribute to their respective communities. The PBDN serves as the local chapter of the Global Business and Disability Network of the International Labor Organization (ILO GBDN).

The event is co-presented by CBRE, a global leader in commercial real-estate services and investments that is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) as more than just values but as a competitive advantage; and is made possible with the support of its gold sponsors: Asurion, AXA Philippines, Coca-cola Beverages Philippines, IBM, Jpmorgan Chase & Co., Manulife Philippines, Paypal Philippines and Wells Fargo, our silver sponsors: Bayer, HSBC Philippines, PLDT-SMART, and Teleperformance, and our partners: ILO-GBDN, Project Inclusion Network (PIN), Unilab Foundation, the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), Women Inter Industry Network (WIN), and the Austrian Embassy Manila.

The Working Beyond Barriers Conference revolves around the theme “Leadership and participation of businesses toward an inclusive, accessible, and sustainable world with Persons with Disability,” which aims to recognize the crucial role of businesses and organizations to making inclusive employment a reality, while taking into account the business case of working with Persons with Disability where they achieve the following: (1) Companies access an untapped human resource potential; (2) Companies build a positive brand reputation; and (3) Companies set the standard in diversity and inclusion.

The 1st day of the Conference on July 20 focuses on the “Opportunities and challenges in disability inclusion in the workplace.” The theme will be discussed through multi-stakeholder sessions, which include a Person with Disability panel (who represent varied disabilities), a business panel (Paypal, Manulife, Asurion), and government representatives from the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The keynote speaker for Day 1 discusses the topic “Planning for and Implementing Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace,’’ which will be led by Susan Scottparker. Susan founded the first business disability network, Business Disability Forum in the UK, and has supported the“business-disability network movement” worldwide for more than 20 years. She is the strategic advisor to the ILO-GBDN and Valuable 500. Susan has extensive experience helping private and public sector employers to deliver the best practice that benefits both the business and persons with disabilities and which makes disability equality possible.

The 2nd day of the Conference on July 21, on the other hand, will focus on “Policies and practices that promote participation and representation of Persons with Disability.” A notable segment is on “Building a pipeline of skilled Person with Disability talent through vocational training of Persons with Disability,” discussed through a panel which includes a Tesda-accredited school, Swiss IT Academy, Virtualahan, and Project Inclusion Network (PIN).

For Day 2, three sets of breakout room sessions will be the core activity revolving around the 3 C’s of PBDN, which refers to its primary focus as a network: (1) Collaborating with NGOS, MSMES, and Person with Disability-led and/or ran businesses; (2) Connecting to Person with Disability talent and ways to hire inclusively and promote belonging; and (3) Capacitating companies to be more disability-inclusive through accessibility and an enabling work environment and culture.