Why Product Inclusion and Accessibility Should Fall to DI&B

At many companies, product inclusion — the practice of making websites, software and other digital assets accessible to underserved or marginalized customers, like people with disabilities — is often the sole responsibility of product and engineering teams.

But at Indeed, we’ve taken a slightly different approach, with my Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DI&B) team playing a key role in product inclusion as well.

As Indeed’s Vice President of DI&B, I believe that inclusion is about removing all bias and barriers — not just for employees, but for our job seekers and customers, too. Inclusion is a pivotal part of Indeed’s culture, in fact, and aligns with our mission to help people get jobs. By integrating product inclusion with DI&B, we want to help all people get jobs.

In addition to being the right thing to do, product inclusion and accessibility are also smart business moves. About 1 billion people globally, or 15% of the world’s population, have a disability. In the U.S., 1 in 4 adults — 61 million people — live with a disability. To ignore this population is to ignore big growth and revenue opportunities.

Why isn’t every company focused on product inclusion?

Some business leaders fear that digital accessibility will slow the velocity of product development and release cycles, making their companies less competitive. If you have to retroactively make your products inclusive, then yes, it’s going to take time. But building products from the start with inclusion in mind is much more efficient, and shouldn’t take much longer than building without it.

Another concern I’ve heard is that accessibility only benefits those with disabilities, or that it takes functions away from those without disabilities. I’d argue that accessibility is an additive — not a subtractive — process and can make good products even better.

For example, author Kat Holmes (Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design) points out that curb cuts were originally intended to help wheelchair users access sidewalks. But curb cuts also benefit bicyclists, parents with strollers and travelers with rolling suitcases. “When we design for accessibility, it ends up benefiting a much broader group of people,” she writes.

Disabilities have even inspired inventions that make life better for everyone. Holmes notes that in the 1800s, a blind Italian countess co-invented an early typewriter — an ancestor to our computer and smartphone keyboards — because she wanted to write personal letters without having to dictate them.

How to make product inclusion a company-wide priority (and DI&B function)

Having integrated product accessibility into my DI&B team’s responsibilities, I can share some insights from our lessons learned.

Get buy-in from senior leaders. C-suite support is crucial if your product inclusion efforts are to gain traction. Be prepared to explain to senior leaders the business benefits, not just the risks of non-compliance with accessibility laws. Also, you may need to explain why inclusion of all types logically falls under the umbrella of removing bias and barriers, which is why your DI&B team should be strategically involved in product accessibility.

Involve department leaders, too. Product inclusion should be a focus of every department with responsibility for any surface that a customer touches. For example, a marketing email that can’t be easily deciphered with a screen reader won’t be accessible to visually impaired customers. So, your marketing leaders need to understand the important role marketing should play in your company’s accessibility efforts.

Build a product inclusion team. Accessibility efforts often happen in pockets, and not in any coordinated way. DI&B teams aren’t product experts, just as product development teams aren’t inclusion experts. For these and other reasons, you’ll need a cross-functional product inclusion team with accountability across departments. The goal is to break down silos and get everyone collaborating on digital accessibility.

Get an accessibility audit. Early on, you’ll need to know every product inclusion weakness. There are multiple ways to do this. You might commission an accessibility auditor to provide a detailed report on what needs fixing. There are plenty of online tools that evaluate websites for accessibility issues. Some companies hire people with disabilities to use their products and report on their experiences.

Develop a plan and timeline. Once product accessibility issues are identified, your product inclusion team should prioritize what gets fixed, how, by what date(s) and by whom. The team should meet regularly for updates, to report bug fixes and keep everything on track.

Follow the standards. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the U.S. was a much-needed step toward accessibility, though there’s debate in the courts about whether, or under what circumstances, it applies to websites. However, Canada’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is worth considering as the gold standard even for U.S. companies. It’s stricter and contains clearer requirements and penalties than the ADA, in my opinion. 

For example, non-compliance with the ADA results in fines and settlements that can differ depending upon the case. But non-compliance with the AODA is straightforward: The fine is up to $50,000 (Canadian) per day for people or organizations and up to $100,000 (Canadian) for corporations. It’s important to ask your legal team if adopting the AODA will work for your company.

There are digital accessibility legislation and standards that you can consider to guide your efforts, including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA (the current global standard for making online content accessible, including mobile and tablet) and Section 508 of the U.S. Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which pertains to federal agencies and federal contractors.

Building with product accessibility in mind

The end goal of diversity isn’t to fix your workforce. It’s to build your workforce over time with diversity in mind.

Product inclusion is much the same. The exception is that you’ll probably need to fix some existing accessibility problems, which is time- and resource-intensive. But once you get past that, you can build future products with inclusion in mind. You’ll have integrated inclusion into all aspects of your company. It’s the right thing to do for your customers — and your business.