Published on December 2, 2024
We aim to create an inclusive environment where everyone can fully express their skills and potential. On the occasion of the International Day of People with Disabilities, we reaffirm our commitment to the inclusion and support of our employees and customers with disabilities.
Key figures on disability around the world highlight the importance of acting together to promote inclusion.
1.3 billion of people, or 16% of the world population, live with a significant disability
80% disabilities are invisible
Environ 20% of the world population is neurodivergente
Near1 billion disabled children and adults and the elderly needing assistive technologies do not have access to them
We are committed against discrimination linked to disability
To progress on this commitment, we are active in coalitions that aim to reduce inequalities and promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in society and in the world of work. It is within this framework that we support various initiatives, including the Charter of the Global Business and Disability Network of the International Labor Organization (ILO 2015), The Valuable 500 (2019) and that we launched the Neuroteam program (2022) which encourages the employment of neurodivergent people.
Only skills count
We are convinced that diversity and inclusion are essential drivers of performance, creativity, attractiveness and commitment of our employees. This is why we advocate the acceptance of all forms of difference, the recognition of multiple identities and the elimination of all discrimination, thus allowing each and everyone to fully express their potential and skills, because with us, only skills matter.
In terms of support, our teams do everything they can to particularly support people with disabilities during their recruitment, their integration and throughout their career at Orange to enable them to develop and flourish within of the collective.
Our recruitment actions to promote diversity
We consider diversity as a strength and a driver of innovation. We also strive to make our job offers accessible and adapted to people with disabilities to attract and retain talent.
Welcome, inclusion and support: 3 key dimensions
For successful integration, we ensure that our work environments, collaborative tools and support systems are accessible and adapted to everyone’s needs. This approach offers all our employees an environment conducive to professional development: an inclusive corporate culture improves the feeling of belonging, well-being, loyalty and attractiveness of talents in the long term.
Raising awareness of disability among all our employees
We regularly carry out training and awareness initiatives to deconstruct stereotypes, particularly with regard to disability at work. These initiatives are implemented in all regions where the Group operates. Our goal is to enlighten as many people as possible about the realities of disability and to promote better understanding.
Inclusion of employees with disabilities: inspiring examples
Everywhere in our regions, concrete initiatives are being carried out to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities. International Disability Day is an opportunity to look back on our good practices and highlight them.
In Europe, two countries have affirmed their commitment to the inclusion of people with disabilities through acculturation and integration. In Poland at Orange, the Yes for Health program deals, among other things, with information and education on the rights and needs of people with disabilities. In Romania, the focus is on raising awareness at all levels of the company with the Ability>Disability program, an initiative aimed at improving employee understanding and empathy. One goal is to teach employees to spot warning signs of emotional problems, such as symptoms of anxiety and depression.
At Orange Business Brazil, the Grow Up program promotes equal opportunities, allowing people with disabilities to assert their potential, develop their professional skills and progress within the company.
Workstation adjustments and active listening are two good practices put forward by SOFRECOM Tunisia.
All these values are brought to France by the Mission Insertion Handicap, whose objective is to ensure better integration of people with disabilities through personalized support. More particularly, the Recognition of Disabled Worker (RQTH) allows everyone to benefit from advantages to compensate for their disability and thus work in the best possible conditions.
Our actions for a more inclusive society
Aware of our extended responsibility throughout our value chain, from suppliers to customers, we also work to ensure that our commitment contributes to combating all forms of digital exclusion linked to disability in society.
We have therefore adopted a program to make our websites and mobile applications more easily accessible. Orange’s development of the “Comfort +” option makes navigation easier for all users.
To promote the employment of people with disabilities among our suppliers, we are developing the Group’s purchases from the protected and adapted work sector (STPA) and aim to increase our inclusive purchases by 30% by 2025, in accordance with the commitment made within the business collective for a more inclusive economy.
To facilitate our customers’ access to our points of sale, both in France and internationally, we are working on the “autonomy” labeling of our stores, thus offering an improved customer experience. Finally, we offer our customers applications and solutions dedicated to autonomy, as well as catalogs of adapted services, thus strengthening our commitment to a more inclusive society.
Innovation in the service of disability
Technological advances and innovations developed thanks to digital technology facilitate activities and improve the daily lives of people with disabilities: assistance solutions, visual and audio aid, adapted equipment, easier access to education, culture and sport …This is what we were able to demonstrate during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the provision of innovations allowing people with disabilities to enjoy the event with the best possible experience.
We have a dedicated entity so that our innovations are designed as inclusive from their design, relying on a team of researchers and accessibility experts. In addition, we form partnerships to promote the emergence of an ecosystem of social and societal innovation.
Orange partner of Handilab, the first innovation accelerator serving disability
The Group has signed a partnership with Handilab, the first innovation, disability and autonomy center created in France, in the Paris region.
We thus support the creation of new inclusive services and economic models, and contribute to the necessary synergy between companies, start-ups and associations, for better consideration of disability in society.
Our commitment to diversity, equity and the inclusion of people, as well as the numerous initiatives that bring it to fruition, allow us to affirm more than ever: “ Be yourself ».
Orange, committed against all forms of discrimination
