First Irish business to gain ‘Disability Smart Standard’ accreditation

Bank of Ireland is proud to have become the first Irish company to achieve the prestigious ‘Disability Smart Standard’, a workplace accreditation recognising the Bank’s commitment to disability inclusion.

The Disability Smart Standard is an audit developed by the Business Disability Forum to help organisations measure and improve on performance for disabled customers, clients or service users, and employees.

Bank of Ireland achieved ‘Bronze’ status in its first-ever evaluation under the Disability Smart Audit framework, which assesses organisations across ten key business areas ranging from their commitment to disability inclusion, their recruitment process, access to products and services, and how they make adjustments to remove or reduce barriers for employees in the workplace.

Bank of Ireland scored an average of 75% across all ten business areas assessed as part of the Disability Standard audit and scored highly in the areas of Commitment, Adjustments, Recruitment and Premises.

The audit commended Bank of Ireland for its engagement with the NCBI, who the Bank worked closely with on user testing for its new mobile banking app. These tests helped Bank of Ireland to ensure its app is easily accessible for customers with vision impairments.

The report also praised the Bank’s Reasonable Adjustments Guide and Passport for being clear and easy to follow. The Guide outlines the process individuals and managers follow to make workplace adjustments required by people with hidden or visible disabilities. The Passport ensures a record is maintained, meaning when the individual changes jobs, relocates or is assigned a new manager within the organisation, their required adjustments are clearly understood and can be facilitated without further review.