Reflections From the 2024 Disability:IN Conference
“The 2024 Disability:IN Conference was an inspiring platform that brought together more than 500 corporate partners and gave them an opportunity to share best practices, provide solutions and build bridges with the community through various panel discussions and breakout sessions. The conference provided a medium through which we could interact with other companies in different stages of their Disability Inclusion journey while furthering our learnings through discussions in Talent Acquisition, workplace accommodations and the use of Artificial Intelligence. The impact that this community has had, is having and will continue to have in society and the corporate world is growing, and I am sure this movement will continue to evolve with an infectious passion to ensure disabled individuals receive Paychecks, not pity!”
Joshua Mark David, Recruiter, Emerging Talent
Our Presence at Disability:IN
Fostering connections and a sense of belonging for all identities, including people with disabilities, is core to our values and commitments here at Expedia Group. To advance our efforts, 14 Expedians attended the Disability:IN conference, a leading industry event focused on disability inclusion. Our attendees, including members from the Ability Inclusion Movement (AIM) Inclusion Business Group (IBG), Global Talent Acquisition, and our Inclusion & Diversity team, gained invaluable insights, strengthened industry partnerships, and expanded our knowledge of best practices.
We’re also boosting our recruitment via the NextGen program, a Disability:IN initiative that mentors and recruits students and young professionals with disabilities. We met 28 NextGen candidates where we discussed future job opportunities. Recruiting early-career talent with disabilities is key to creating a diverse, innovative workforce. Their unique viewpoints and problem-solving abilities can enhance creativity and business performance.
During the conference, Expedia Group was also named a 2024 Best Place to Work for People with Disabilities in seven countries (Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Germany, the UK, and U.S.), based on the Disability Equality Index® (DEI) – the most comprehensive tool for measuring disability inclusion in the business world.
“Attending the conference was a truly inspirational experience! Storytelling holds power at every level and witnessing it firsthand was enlightening. It was incredible to meet fellow IBG leaders from various influential companies and learning from their experiences reinforced the impact of shared narratives.”
Emi Wood-Leclerc, Vice President AMER, AIM
Highlights from Dennis Malinis & Zack Rubinstein’s panels:
On the first day of the conference, Zack Rubinstein, Director of Global Inclusion Learning, participated in a panel discussing strategies to develop and retain talent with disabilities. He emphasized the significance of our IBGs to our employees and the necessity of each IBG having an executive sponsor for strategic guidance, visibility, and resources. He also highlighted the need for region-specific learning sessions in a global company, rather than focusing solely on the US.
On the second day of the conference, Dennis Malinis, Director, Disability Inclusion, spoke about how across the world, the definition of disability is different – and how Self–ID surveys are important for not only businesses, but employees as well. “At table stakes, you’ve got the data to now put in your annual DEI reports,” Malinis stated in the panel. “…The true value to the employees, is leadership’s ability to action on the opportunities identified by the data collected by the survey.” Self-ID surveys are crucial in workplaces for promoting inclusivity. They let employees voluntarily share their identities like race, gender, disability status, etc. This gives organizations insight into their workforce diversity, helps spot representation gaps, customize support programs, and assess the impact of diversity and inclusion efforts.
AIM’s Impact on Expedia Group
Our work in this space would not be possible without our Ability Inclusion Movement (AIM) IBG. AIM is the catalyst of a paradigm shift in ability inclusion at Expedia Group, from compliance and mitigation to true equity and inclusion. By removing barriers experienced by people with disabilities in our workplace, AIM fosters the healthy, diverse, inclusive workplace Expedia Group needs to bring the world within reach for everyone.
“I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to attend the 2024 Disability:IN conference in Las Vegas! It was such an inspiring and uplifting event, where I had the chance to learn about so many important disability inclusion topics – especially those that were directly related to my leadership role in Talent Acquisition, which I intend on sharing back with my peers and the wider team. It was also incredible to spend time with EG colleagues who are equally passionate about disability inclusion, which has left me feeling extremely energized and fulfilled!“
Claire Cumming, Senior Manager, Recruiting
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