London, UK/Abu Dhabi, UAE – Intertek, a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, has been welcomed in to the Valuable 500, a global community of CEOs who have committed to putting disability inclusion on their corporate agendas and using business as a force for good.
The Valuable 500 remains the only global CEO community dedicated to changing business across the entirety of the supply chain for the benefit of persons living with disabilities across the world.
Each Valuable 500 CEO has agreed to make at least one public commitment to action. In a statement summarising Intertek Group’s commitment to disability inclusion, CEO Andre Lacroix said:
“As a purpose-led company, Intertek’s mission is to make the world a better, safer and more inclusive place by bringing Quality, Safety and Sustainability to life through the work we do not only for our own business but also for our clients’ businesses worldwide. By joining the Valuable 500, we are furthering our commitment to affect systemic change by adopting a disability inclusive mindset and applying this ethos to our business and our relevant service offerings for our clients. This will ensure the clients we serve also meet the needs of the disabled community through the products and services they offer, the physical environments in which they operate, the technology they develop, and the digital media they use to communicate. We are delighted to be welcomed to the Valuable 500 and will continue to create a truly inclusive workplace at Intertek and we encourage those we work with to join us in contributing to a more inclusive world.”
Inclusion has long been at the core of everything Intertek does. Achieving ‘Ever Better’ performance depends on having an organisation that is truly diverse and inclusive in ways that extend far beyond the ‘standard’ measurements of race, nationality and gender. Intertek is always working internally to improve its people processes to ensure that it can create an ever-more diverse and inclusive employee population. This means ensuring those with disabilities experience Intertek’s culture of inclusiveness at every stage – whether they are interviewing for a position within its global business, or have been with the business for a number of years. Intertek’s culture seeks to enable all to perform at their best, where their views, opinions and talents are respected, harnessed and not discriminated against.
For clients, Intertek Cristal recently launched AccessCheck, an assessment protocol which provides independent verification of the degree to which hotels, restaurants, and other participants in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry meet the accessibility needs of the disabled community. This is just one example of Intertek’s purpose-led commitment to making the world a more inclusive place for clients. AccessCheck criteria carefully considers the accessibility requirements of persons living with
both visible and invisible disabilities. Accessibility criteria applies to the physical environment as well as digital assets such as websites, booking platforms, smart technology, and applications.
Intertek actively seeks out opportunities to demonstrate its commitment to delivering its founding fathers’ vision of making the world a safer and better place. Engaging with communities dedicated to imprinting diversity and inclusion in business practices, support Intertek’s goal of remaining the trusted partner and employer to businesses and people around the world.