From left to right:
Thomas Ulrich, senior sponsor Ability network Switzerland
Alain Klein, co-chair Ability network Switzerland
Ralph Hamers, CEO UBS
Lisa Michel, co-chair Ability network Switzerland

A year ago, with the stroke of a virtual pen, Ralph Hamers committed to driving systemic change and making business more inclusive of people with disabilities by becoming part of The Valuable 500: a global compact of 500 CEOs putting disability inclusion on their firm’s business leadership agenda. With strong support from the Group Executive Board, we were already working with recruitment, training and talent specialists, along with our employee networks, to move forward in this space – and our partnership with The Valuable 500 has only accelerated our momentum.

“When it comes to the topic of disability, we’re a different company than we were 12 months ago. The momentum is real, the actions tangible, and it’s a really exciting time for our network members and the wider community of employees with disabilities,” said Lisa Michel, who’s one of the co-heads of the Ability employee network in Switzerland, as she looked back on the last year.

Network co-head Alain Klein noted that achieving comprehensive disability inclusion takes time in a firm as large as UBS but is encouraged that we’re both motivated and making progress. And, having been here for more than 16 years, Alain shared that in his experience, ”The skills needed to thrive at UBS don’t include an ability to climb stairs, or to see or hear perfectly…and, if there are barriers around a disability, we have tools, and many supportive colleagues collaborating together with us to help remove them, because, after all, it can’t be about us without us.”

Tackling transformation from many different angles

As a client-focused business and world-class employer, we’re taking a broad-brush approach to disability inclusion that considers both internal and external stakeholders, as well as practical measures. Among other priorities, we’re

  • hiring a disability recruitment specialist, providing training opportunities to managers and staff, and auditing all of our recruitment processes – all with the aim to better attract, recruit, hire and retain people with disabilities
  • launching a new Ability employee network in the US and continuing to increase the impact of our Ability networks in Poland, Switzerland and the UK, along with informal employee groups in many other locations
  • setting global accessibility standards and improving the physical accessibility of our offices and ATM interfaces
  • accelerating the implementation of digital accessibility standards for our digital content and services

In particular, those last two priorities – physical and digital accessibility – are powerful intersections of the “connecting people for a better world” part of our purpose, benefitting employees, clients and office visitors alike. Sven Jenzer is part of an internal Digital Accessibility Exchange Group that, for several years, has been raising the bar on accessibility for our web presence, our software development processes and other online experiences. “We’re really inspired by the firm’s commitment to implementing accessibility across our applications and digital platforms – from bolt-on to built-in,” he said. “We can now fully take accessibility criteria into account when developing new digital products and services and truly recognize the inclusiveness potential of the technology we craft. Going forward, our clients and colleagues will be able to access our services with ease.”

Recognizing leadership commitment

To mark the firm’s one-year anniversary of joining The Valuable 500’s mission and to express appreciation for Ralph’s public commitment to disability inclusion, the Ability employee network in Switzerland recently presented him with an original piece of artwork by Rémy Vuillème. Remy’s a Swiss-based autistic artist who’s known for his energetic technique and imagination, and this particular piece was displayed in a 2021 exposition at the ‘Syndrome Artistique’ gallery in Lausanne. Senior sponsor Thomas Ulrich and co-chairs Alain Klein and Lisa Michel (pictured) jointly delivered the artwork to Ralph in Zurich.