EIB Group marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities

To mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) hosted a full week of events to promote exchanges on disability inclusion with staff and expert guests.

The Group, through its Disability Employee Resource Group enAble, joined the global #PurpleLightUp movement. #PurpleLightUp celebrates and draws attention to the important economic contribution of the 386 million disabled employees around the world.

A wide range of enAble members met their Heads of Service and Directors to discuss inner confidence in disabled and neurodivergent staff members. They shared their thoughts on the importance of integrating disability inclusion considerations into everything they do at the EIB Group.

Outgoing EIB secretary General Marjut Falkstedt, said: “There are moments in life where we all deal with issues related to self-esteem, self-confidence. However, we have colleagues who deal with that matter each day, due to a disability, for example. For me as a manager, the most important is to understand the experience of these colleagues to ensure we are meeting their needs. I ask colleagues to please come talk to me, because it’s the only way I can help build a team spirit where we can all help each other.”

The leader-to-leader conversations enabled EIB Group staff to learn more about disability inclusion such as the fact that over 80% of disabilities are actually non-visible and to reflect and take actions to make the EIB Group workplace more accessible for all and one in which a sense of belonging can prosper.

Disability inclusion has become a clear priority at the EIB and is reflected in its Diversity & Inclusion Strategy and by the work done in recent years to institute pragmatic improvements in its systems, policies and practices. In 2021, the EIB proudly joined The Valuable 500, becoming one of the 500 internationally renowned organisations that put disability inclusion at the top of their management agenda, and became a member of PurpleSpace, the world’s leading organisation for supporting disability networks, enabling network leaders to contribute to the disability inclusion agenda in their respective companies. Learn more and read the statement from EIB CEO, Werner Hoyer here.

In 2021, EIB President Hoyer participated in a #PurpleLightUp Leader-to-leader conversation with the leads of enAble, to discuss its inclusive future. Watch the interview here.

"Disability is our business. Over 1.3 billion people worldwide have some form of disability. As members of the Valuable 500, we are committed to constantly evolving our work environment to meet visible and invisible needs so that everyone is equipped with the tools they need, and can thrive and contribute to the bank's success, bringing value from their uniqueness," commented the EIB Group.

Insight into the lived experience of employees

The EIB, through its joined-up approach to Diversity and Inclusion matters both in-house and in its operations commits to putting disability inclusion on our institutional agenda.

To further mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the EIB Group unveiled a new video on its reverse mentoring programme on disability inclusion.

The EIB Group believes that open and honest communication is often the easiest way to improve understanding, make connections across differences, and achieve workplace inclusion. Supporting this, the bank set up reverse mentoring programmes to provide a space for an open and confidential dialogue between a mentors and mentees.

"Disability is our business. Over 1.3 billion people worldwide have some form of disability," said the EIB. "As members of the Valuable 500 we are committed to constantly evolving our work environment to meet visible and invisible needs so that everyone is equipped with the tools they need, and can thrive and contribute to the bank's success, bringing value from their uniqueness."

Through its reverse mentoring programme on disability inclusion, EIB Group leaders gain insight into the lived experiences of staff members and received knowledge and tools on disability and neurodiversity in the workplace. This in turn helps EIB employees to forge inclusion within their teams and across the bank in general.

In the video, Isabelle Cabos, Policy Officer in the General Secretariat and José María (Pepe) Fernández Martín, Deputy General Counsel in the Legal Directorate of the EIB share their experience as mentor and mentee on the reverse mentoring programme on disability inclusion. They outline what concerns they had prior to their participation in the programme, and discuss why it is so important to serve as advocates and allies for disability and neurodiversity inclusion.

"The reverse mentoring for me was an experience to actually understand what is it that people need to learn and what is it that can be useful to transform and to ensure that there is change management at the bank," commented Isabelle.

Discussing working with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Isabelle explained: "During maybe a couple of hours I will be doing only that and forget absolutely everything around me and if I get interrupted during that period it's a nightmare because I will be unable to come back to my process of thinking. So any interruption is actually a disaster."

José said: "It made me think as a manager, 'okay you know that if used properly these qualities could be very useful to the institution,' so we just need to find a way where you can feel integrated, you can feel safe, and you can actually work to your full strengths - you have so much to give."