Pega honored for the second consecutive year for its dedication to disability inclusion and equality in the workplace
Pegasystems Inc (NASDAQ: PEGA), the low-code platform provider empowering the world’s leading enterprises to Build for Change®, today announced it has been recognized as a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion in the Disability Equality Index (DEI), which is considered one of the most comprehensive benchmarking tools to measure workplace inclusion.
Pega’s people are at the center of its growth and innovation, and Pega is committed to maintaining a culture that enables employees to feel united in community, connected in mission, and supported in life. With this people-focused approach to technology and business, Pega continues to invest in creating accessible, inclusive user experiences. Since being named a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion in the DEI last year, Pega has increased its efforts to become a more accessible and inclusive organization, including:
- Increasing the impact of the Persons with Disabilities (PwD@Pega) employee resource group, which focuses on recruitment, education, retention, career advancement, and social impact, including building partnerships with global and local charitable organizations that support people with disabilities. In the past year, the group has focused on:
- Driving accessibility training for employees in partnership with Pega’s accessibility team.
- Hosting internal and external conversations on topics such as supporting colleagues with disabilities, awareness around invisible disabilities, allyship, and common misconceptions, which provides safe spaces for people to discuss disabilities.
- Partnering with nonprofits, including sponsoring events such as The Carroll Center for the Blind’s Walk for Independence and hosting sessions featuring disability-focused nonprofit organizations such as Waypoint Adventure.
- Expanding inclusive recruiting efforts, which prioritize recruiting from disability-focused organizations. Pega posts jobs on more than one dozen disability-focused job boards, as well as participates in job fairs for people with disabilities. Additional efforts include:
- External candidate programs that focus on skill development and job placement for people with disabilities.
- Pega’s 2022 summer internship project, sponsored by PwD@Pega, which focused on creating strategic plans for improving accessibility at Pega.
- Adopting additional usability testing and accessibility best practices. Starting in the design phase, Pega discusses and builds prototypes of optimal solutions for features so they meet — and, ideally, exceed — expectations of all users, including those needing assistive technologies. Pega tests with native users of assisted technologies throughout the development process and follows internationally recognized standards from the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
The DEI is a joint initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the nation’s largest disability rights organization, and Disability:IN, the global business disability inclusion network, to collectively advance the inclusion of people with disabilities. The tool was developed by the DEI Advisory Committee, a diverse group of business leaders, policy experts, and disability advocates. Each company receives a score, on a scale of zero (0) to 100, with those earning 80 and above recognized as a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion.”
For more information about the awards program, visit: https://disabilityin.org/what-we-do/disability-equality-index/2023companies/
Quotes & Commentary
“Pega’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is about celebrating, recognizing, and inviting different points of view, experience, background, and identity,” said Kate Parente, chief people officer, Pega. “This recognition from DEI for the second year in a row is an honor and tribute to our values and outstanding recognition for all those that lead the ongoing mission to build upon our culture at Pega.”
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