This year is the 10th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2021. We were delighted to mark this important occasion with our friends at Microsoft NZ, at their Global Accessibility Awareness Day meetup.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is held on 20th May every year. The purpose of day is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than 1.3 billion people worldwide with disabilities or access needs. We were delighted to mark this years GAAD with our partners Microsoft NZ.
The team at Microsoft invited staff and networks along to Microsoft HQ to learn about Microsoft New Zealand’s Accessibility journey, with support from our Be. Lab Team.
Riki Plester, Microsoft’s New Zealand Accessibility Council Lead, opened the evening, speaking about Microsoft’s commitment to an ongoing journey, and inviting all Microsoft staff to take practical steps towards accessibility right now. These steps included attending the “Be. Essentials” session (Be. Lab's “Introduction to Accessibility workshop), and also by signing up as a mentor as part of Microsoft’s commitment to the Be. Lab mentorship programme.
We are so pleased to be partnering with Microsoft on their accessibility journey. We're blown away by their enthusiasm and commitment to continually striving to do better in this space.
We were excited to have the opportunity for our Be. Lab Talent Team to share with Microsoft and their networks about the work we do in matching employers with awesome diverse talent, and walking alongside employers to ensure they are confident in creating an environment that is accessible as possible to all people.
It was also a great opportunity to showcase some of our amazing talent. We heard from one of our candidates Poreia Millad, a fantastic young man just waiting for the right opportunity to get into the tech industry. Poreia spoke about his skills, qualifications and passion for accessibility that make him an outstanding candidate for employment in the tech sector. We have many talented candidates, just like Poreia ready for employment.
Riki Plester, from Microsoft NZ says: “Be. Lab's employment program is such a critical piece of work in addressing underemployment in the access community. We are excited to be working alongside Be. to assist in connecting some of these talented candidates to our partner and customer networks”.
Here at Be. Lab our call to action to New Zealand Businesses on this year’s Global Accessibility Awareness day is to make a commitment to employ more people with access needs and disabilities, and to start today!
With our one-of-a-kind employment service we make it easy for all New Zealand businesses to take that practical first step to increase the diversity in their workforce and to unlock the benefits that diversity and accessibility can bring their organisation. We have a pool of outstanding candidates ready to join your team now right now.
New Zealand businesses- what are you waiting for? Get in touch with the Talent team today to get matched with candidates that will add real value to your organisation.
If you’d like to learn more about our Be. Essentials culture workshop or to find out about becoming a Be. Lab mentor, get in touch today.
Call (09) 3098966 or e-mail talent@belab.co.nz