While one-quarter of the US workforce has a disability or health condition, according to BCG, the index found that just 4% of employees at participating companies identify as having a disability. That number has changed little since 2019, when 3.7% identified as disabled.

Dell, for example, received a perfect score, even though its RTO policy precludes remote workers from receiving promotions, which advocates say could hurt disability inclusion efforts.

When asked about these discrepancies, Jill Houghton, CEO of Disability:IN, told HR Brew that lawsuits are not factored into scores, “because the benchmark is designed to assess and promote the presence of inclusive workplace policies and practices.”

“The big thing that they should do is pivot from a self-reporting technique to a more holistic, well-rounded, complete reporting style where they give testimonies from their disabled employees,” Petersen told HR Brew. Otherwise, he said, the index feels more like “inclusion washing, where it’s a label saying that they’re inclusive to disabilities, but the label doesn’t nearly tell the full story.”

Disability:IN consistently suggests that companies are making progress towards disability inclusion, but the reporting gaps leave room for questions, and disabled talent still face barriers to success.