AskEARN.org: A Digital Destination for Building Equitable and Inclusive Workplaces

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Today, more employers are taking steps to build equitable and inclusive workplaces welcoming of the perspectives of people from all backgrounds. The Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion‘s (EARN) newly redesigned website can ensure workplace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives include people with disabilities.

To help meet today’s complex workforce challenges, many employers are exploring ways to build more equitable and inclusive workplaces, including through targeted recruitment and retention initiatives. To be truly inclusive, these initiatives need to go beyond traditionally held notions of identity, such as race, ethnicity and gender—they must also include disability.

Corporate leaders, human resource and DEI professionals, small business owners, and others can turn to the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) for assistance ensuring workplaces are inclusive of people with disabilities. EARN is an online resource that helps employers learn best practices for fostering diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible workplaces.

Recently, EARN unveiled its newly redesigned website, AskEARN.org, which is structured around four phases of the employment lifecycle—recruit, hire, retain and advance. The new website offers a range of resources, including self-paced online training courses, easy-to-use checklists, in-depth policy guides, profiles of disability-inclusive employers and webinars on a variety of topics.

In addition, the website provides information on trending topics, such as workplace mental health, employment issues related to COVID-19, inclusive telework, U.S. Federal Government contractor requirements and the benefits of hiring neurodiverse employees. Although written in the context of American disability employment laws and regulations, many of EARN’s resources have applicability to employees and employers in any country.

EARN is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy under a cooperative agreement with Cornell University’s Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability. For more information, visit AskEARN.org.