AGL is proud to be the first Australian energy company to sign up to The Valuable 500 – helping to drive systematic change by unlocking the business

The Valuable 500 is a global movement putting people with disability on the business leadership agenda. The Valuable team are seeking national and multinational, private sector corporations to be accountable for inclusion of people with disability in their businesses. Acting as a catalyst for an inclusion revolution, the campaign is striving to showcase the social and economic value of the 1.3 billion people with disability.

We spoke to the Diversity and Inclusion Team at AGL and found out about their commitment to The Valuable 500:

Why did AGL sign up to The Valuable 500?

We’re committed to building a safe and inclusive work environment for all our people. Disability inclusion is a key focus area for us, ensuring our workplace and environment are accessible for all. We’re proud to be the first Australian energy company to sign up to The Valuable 500 – helping to drive systematic change by unlocking the business, social and economic value of the 1.3 billion people living with disability around the world. Being part of a global movement will not only make our commitment to disability inclusion stronger, but also ensure that we are accountable for our actions.

What was the commitment process like? What were the steps involved?

Carys Miller, Marketing Manager at The Valuable 500 reached out to AGL about joining the global movement. There are no costs involved – the commitment is that you table disability at your Board agenda in 2020 and make one firm commitment to action in 2020. In return you receive unlimited access to their resources and reports and get to be part of a global movement with 500 other like-minded businesses committed to raising their game on disability.

How will AGL use the commitment and embed access and inclusion across the organisation?

We recently launched a new Disability Action Plan, which has been created in partnership with the Australian Network on Disability and will be driven by Damien Nicks, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Sponsor of Disability. The plan outlines AGL’s key focus areas for improving disability inclusion in FY21-22. We’ve also established a new AGL Disability Working Group, which will help us to drive important initiatives across the business.

“As the Executive Sponsor for Disability at AGL Energy, I’m looking forward to AGL contributing to improving disability inclusion not only across our business, but society more broadly.” – by Damien Nicks, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Sponsor of Disability, AGL.

The Valuable 500 so far have 335 committed organisations. We proudly acknowledge the AND members who have joined The Valuable 500:

  • Accenture
  • AGL
  • ANZ
  • ARUP
  • Ashurst
  • Compass Group
  • Cummins
  • Deloitte
  • EY
  • Gilbert and Tobin Lawyers
  • Herbert Smith Freehills
  • HSBC
  • IBM Australia
  • Jacobs
  • KPMG
  • Macquarie Group
  • Manpower Group
  • Microsoft
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Roche
  • Sanofi-Aventis
  • Shell
  • Telstra
  • Westpac

Originally published at AND