MIDLAND, Mich. – July 16, 2024 – Dow (NYSE: DOW) has received a top score on the Disability Equality Index® and is recognized as one of the “2024 Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion.” This is the eighth consecutive year Dow has received this recognition. The index is the world’s most comprehensive benchmarking tool for the Fortune 1000 scope companies to measure disability workplace inclusion inside their organizations and assess performance across industry sectors.
Now in its tenth year, the Disability Equality Index was created by a diverse group of business leaders, policy experts, and disability advocates, in partnership with Disability:IN and The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), to help businesses make a positive impact on the unemployment/underemployment of people with disabilities. Today the index is acknowledged as the most robust disability inclusion assessment tool in business.
In 2024, 542 corporations, including 71 Fortune 100 and 220 Fortune 500 utilized the Disability Equality Index to benchmark their disability inclusion efforts.
"We are humbled to once again be recognized as a top performer on the Disability Equality Index” said John Sampson, executive sponsor for Dow's Disability Employee Network and senior vice president of operations, manufacturing and engineering. "This recognition shows Dow's commitment to an inclusive culture where individuals of every ability contribute, and where collectively all employees drive value. At Dow, we firmly believe that people with disabilities are an invaluable pool of talent that help move the Company forward.”
Dow recognizes that its employees are the driving force behind its advancement, value creation, and commitment to stakeholders. Globally, people with disabilities represent over one billion people. Disability is a natural part of the human experience, and it crosses lines of age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religion. That is why in addition to Dow's inclusive policies and programs, the Company offers an employee resource group, the Disability Employee Network (DEN), with its purpose to drive inclusion, equitable opportunity, and accessibility so that individuals of every ability can thrive.
Visit Dow's website for additional information on the Company's commitment to inclusion and diversity and to explore the Company's 2023 INtersections Progress Report.
About the Disability Equality Index®
The Disability Equality Index has become the leading independent, third-party resource for the annual benchmarking of corporate disability inclusion policies and programs and is now trusted by more than 70% of the United States Fortune 100 and nearly half of the Fortune 500. Such companies must increasingly consider how emerging global reporting directives and stakeholder expectations surrounding social and corporate governance factors impact their operational, cultural, reputational, and financial performance.
The Disability Equality Index is an objective, reflective, forward-thinking, and confidential disability rating tool designed to assist business in advancing inclusion practices. It is a comprehensive benchmark that helps companies build a roadmap of measurable, tangible actions across five scored categories: Culture & Leadership, Enterprise-Wide Access, Employment Practices, Community Engagement, and Supplier Diversity. Participating companies receive a score, on a scale of zero (0) to 100, with those scoring 80 or higher earning the distinction of “Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion” for the benchmark year.
Findings from a two-year Global Disability Equality Index pilot informed the launch of a scored benchmark that opened in 2024 to seven new countries in addition to the United States. These include: Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. Now in its 10th year, the Disability Equality Index has grown nearly 7x since 2015, expanding from 80 companies in its first year to 542 in 2024. Collectively, the 2024 edition received 753 submissions spanning the eight benchmarked countries.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) is one of the world’s leading materials science companies, serving customers in high-growth markets such as packaging, infrastructure, mobility, and consumer applications. Our global breadth, asset integration and scale, focused innovation, leading business positions and commitment to sustainability enable us to achieve profitable growth and help deliver a sustainable future. We operate manufacturing sites in 31 countries and employ approximately 35,900 people. Dow delivered sales of approximately $45 billion in 2023. References to Dow or the Company mean Dow Inc. and its subsidiaries. Learn more about us and our ambition to be the most innovative, customer-centric, inclusive, and sustainable materials science company in the world by visiting www.dow.com.
For further information, please contact:
Sarah Young
Dow
syoung3@dow.com