Highmark Health Named a “Best Place to Work” for People with Disabilities
Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) July 14, 2016 -- For its comprehensive efforts to attract, develop and retain people with disabilities in its workforce, Highmark Health has been named a “Best Place to Work” for people with disabilities in the Disability Equality Index® (DEI®), a national benchmarking survey administered jointly by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the U.S. Business Leadership Network®.
National health and wellness organization Highmark Health is among 42 Fortune 1000-sized companies that earned a top score of 100 in the DEI® benchmark, which awards points in four categories including culture and leadership, enterprise-wide access, employment practices, and community engagement and support services.
“We are proud to be serving customers and communities that are richly diverse,” said Sara Oliver-Carter, vice president of diversity and inclusion for Highmark Health. “We can best serve their health care needs by mirroring that diversity in our workforce. The DEI ‘Best Place to Work’ distinction underscores Highmark Health’s strong commitment to employees with disabilities, who help to make us highly effective at providing support and services to our customers along their health care journeys.”
Among those practices that earned Highmark Health the “Best Place to Work” distinction are programs and partnerships that help to recruit people with disabilities, including the Rooney Rule; a centralized accommodation process; support and leadership of organizations in the community that advocate for people with disabilities; executive sponsorship of the business case for recruiting, hiring and developing people with disabilities; and enterprise-wide support of business resources groups through which employees with disabilities get involved in workplace, marketplace and community-wide programs.
“At AAPD, our goal is to increase the political and economic power of people with disabilities,” said Helena Berger, president and CEO, American Association of People with Disabilities. “Through the DEI, we’re able to spotlight companies such as Highmark Health that embrace the many talents and skills that people with disabilities bring to the workforce. Highmark Health is excelling as a champion of people of disabilities, providing a full range of policies and program that demonstrate a true commitment to competitive employment for this community, helping them to build vibrant futures.”
View the news announcement and FAQs issued by AAPD and USBLN.
About Highmark Health
Highmark Health, a Pittsburgh, PA based enterprise that employs more than 35,000 people nationwide and serves 50 million Americans in all 50 states, is the third largest integrated health care delivery and financing system in the nation. Highmark Health is the parent company of Highmark Inc., Allegheny Health Network, and HM Health Solutions. Highmark Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates provide health insurance to 5.2 million members in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware as well as dental insurance, vision care and related health products through a national network of diversified businesses that include United Concordia Companies, HM Insurance Group, Davis Vision and Visionworks. Allegheny Health Network is the parent company of an integrated delivery network that includes eight hospitals, a community-based network of physician organizations, and a group purchasing organization, ambulatory surgery centers, and health and wellness pavilions in western Pennsylvania. HM Health Solutions focuses on meeting the information technology platform and other business needs of the Highmark Health enterprise as well as unaffiliated health insurance plans by providing proven business processes, expert knowledge and integrated cloud-based platforms. To learn more, please visit http://www.highmarkhealth.org.
About the Disability Equality Index®
The Disability Equality Index®, DEI®, is a joint initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities and the U.S. Business Leadership Network®. Developed by the DEI® Advisory Committee, a diverse group of business leaders, policy experts, and disability advocates, the DEI® is a national, transparent benchmarking tool that offers businesses an opportunity to receive an objective assessment of their overall disability inclusion policies and practices. It is an aspirational, educational, recognition tool that goes far beyond legal compliance, helping companies identify opportunities for continued improvement, while building their reputations as organizations that value diversity and inclusion.
Janice Maszle, Highmark Health, http://www.highmarkhealth.org, +1 412.544.7643, [email protected]
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