Two Indiana-based companies have been named to the National Organization on Disability’s 2024 list of Top Disability Employers. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. and Evansville-based Old National Bank were among nearly 60 companies that received the award.

The unranked list was derived from an assessment of business practices related to the hiring, retention and promotion of people with disabilities. ONB Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Corliss Garner spoke to Inside INdiana Business about the award.

Describe your role as Chief DEI Officer at Old National Bank.

My job is to think about how we embed and integrate DEI into everything we do in our organization. This also includes what we do in the areas of talent, attraction, development and retention of our employees. This also includes what we do from a cultural perspective.

How do we create a culture of inclusion that ensures we have team members who want to be here and work hard to support our customers in our communities? What is our inclusion perspective for the work we do outside of our organization, for our communities, customers and other stakeholders? And how do we use our assets to build our brand and build the communities we work with?

And also from a business perspective, how do we look inward at our policies, practices and processes to ensure that we have that perspective of inclusion? It’s an interesting role. I enjoy the role because it gives me the opportunity to take a look at our entire company and think about how we can advance diversity, equity and inclusion.

What are ONB’s business practices and policies related to the hiring, retention and promotion of people with disabilities?

We believe that creating an environment where all team members are engaged and their unique identities are welcomed and celebrated is the way for us to succeed as an institution.

When it comes to working for people with disabilities and supporting their outcomes, we do this in a variety of ways. Regularly review our process for accommodating and supporting team members with disabilities to ensure they have what they need to be successful within our organization. And also think about how you can connect and support team members with disabilities to form a community.

One way to do this is through Impact Networks. You may have heard them referred to as employee resource groups, but we have a group that connects team members with disabilities to ensure they have a community of mutual support but also an opportunity to voice their concerns to our organization To express We can ensure that we support them continuously.

We also have the opportunity to mentor people with disabilities and connect them with their leaders to help them better understand our organization and provide them with the opportunity to consider career advancement within our organization.

How does ONB measure the effectiveness of its disability inclusion initiatives?

One way in particular is to advance recruitment. How do we hire people? How do we promote people within the organization?

And also hear from team members. We conduct an annual engagement survey among our team members. We can break down this data by different demographics and hear directly from our team members what’s working, what’s not, what we can do better, and where we can still develop a little further.

And then the Impact Network, it’s called Abilities First. Spend time with them regularly to understand how effective our efforts are.

Why does ONB believe it is important to implement disability inclusion practices and policies?

Looking at the data, I recently read a statistic that says one in four people have an obvious or non-obvious disability. We understand that there are things we can see and things we cannot see. I would argue that it could be more than that, because what we know is that people with disabilities often don’t disclose.

To have so many people with a disability, we need to think about how we can access those talents and how we can create an environment that removes barriers so that talent can come to us and do great work and have great experiences and great careers at Old National.

What challenges does ONB face in implementing disability inclusion initiatives?

One of the challenges is getting people comfortable with disclosure. How do we create an environment where people feel comfortable disclosing? This way we understand our population better and can better support them.

What role does the ONB leadership team play in promoting a disability-inclusive culture?

Our leadership team is critical to promoting not only the culture of disability inclusion, but the culture of inclusion overall. Having a voice from the top, starting with our CEO (Jim Ryan), telling us why DEI, In this case, the inclusion of people with disabilities is important to him personally and to us as an organization.

We engage our leadership team in different ways. We call the mentoring program Achieve Ability. We have one of our executives who is the executive sponsor of this program. He is very committed. He is a voice from above. This really highlights why we do this work and why it is important to us as an organization.

And in our Impact Network, our employee group, we also have two ELT members who are committed to this group. You will regularly spend time with our team members, who are volunteers who lead the Impact Network, helping, advising and acting as visible advocates for the strategy and leadership of the group.

How does ONB feel to be named one of the leading disability employment employers in the country?

It’s always nice to be recognized for what we do. We do this because we believe in people. We believe in building people up, empowering them and creating opportunities. Because we know that when we have committed and capable people, they do their best work for our customers. While it’s nice to be recognized, we don’t do it for recognition. We do this for the people we believe in who will ultimately serve our customers and our communities.

How does this recognition benefit the City of Evansville?

By presenting Old National as an employer of choice that understands what is needed and what we can do as a company to create an environment where people with disabilities can thrive within our company. As one of the leading banking institutions in Evansville, it further strengthens our brand in this way.

I’ve read articles about companies downsizing or eliminating DEI programs this year. What do you think about that?

At Old National, we have always focused on diversity, equity and inclusion for the reasons we believe are important. It supports our people. It supports our culture. It supports us as a company. We continue to rely on it. We understand that DEI is a differentiator in the way business is done and we are committed to this goal.

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