Catalyst Blog

Congratulations to Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Sodexo—the 2012 Catalyst Award winners! These companies’ Award-winning initiatives share a strategic, laser-sharp business focus and lead with strong results.

This year’s winning initiatives reflect the evolution of advancing women from a “nice-to-do,” to a core business practice. Commonwealth Bank and Sodexo have incorporated a culture that values diversity into their brands, which differentiates their businesses from competitors, increases profitability, and better reflects the customers they serve. Their initiatives focus on transforming leadership, workplaces, and lives.

This year, in recognition of Catalyst’s 50th anniversary, the annual Catalyst Awards Conference will be held over two days at The Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. The first day, March 28, 2012, will highlight Catalyst milestones spanning five decades, and on March 29 we’ll honor the Award-winning initiatives, culminating with the Awards Dinner that night. You can find the program and register today by clicking this link. Hope to see you there!

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, celebrated annually in the United States to recognize the skills disabled people bring to the workplace and the strong business case for hiring them. In keeping with this year’s official theme, “Profit by investing in workers with disabilities,” below are statistics around this vital workforce and reasons why it pays to hire and promote disabled women and men:

1> Employers of disabled workers report that, as a group, people with disabilities perform on par or better than their non-disabled peers, are more likely to stay on the job, and boost teamwork and workforce morale among colleagues.

2> There are roughly 36 million Americans with a disability—but only 6.7 million are employed.

3> Median earnings for disabled men in 2009 was $22,351, while disabled women earned only $15,459.

4> In 2010, the unemployment rates for those with a disability were higher among blacks (22%) and Hispanics (18.4%) than among whites (13.6%).

5> During Fiscal Year 2010, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 25,165 charges of disability discrimination.