What completing the Global Assessment involves

Introduction

Business Disability Forum’s Global Assessment evaluates disability inclusion maturity across 10 business areas. Participants answer approximately 100 questions about their Global Headquarters, and a further 100 questions for each country they choose to assess.

For verified assessments, half of the questions require supporting evidence. This is reviewed by our expert team to build a clear picture of your organisation’s strengths and areas for development. You will receive an auto-tailored report based on your responses, and can opt for an additional personalised feedback session with your assessor.

Business areas covered by the Global Assessment

Each question set explores 10 strategic business areas, known as Pillars:

• Leadership
• Recruitment
• Learning and Development
• Retention
• Marketing and Communications
• Workplace Accommodations
• Customers and Service Users
• Procurement
• Built Environment
• Technology

Country-level question sets

Business Disability Forum’s Global Assessment includes an assessment for your global headquarters, and tailored country-level question sets for:

• USA
• UK
• Brazil
• China
• Poland
• UAE
• India
• South Africa

Each country-level question set is adapted to reflect the local legal, cultural and social context of disability inclusion. That ensures that the assessment is meaningful and relevant within that country, but that results between countries are not directly comparable.

Accessing and managing the Global Assessment

To take part in the Global Assessment, your organisation must first nominate a Global Superuser – the person with overall responsibility for coordinating the completion of all assessment components across your organisation. This is done by notifying Business Disability Forum directly via the email address provided, or by speaking with your Business Partner or Senior Business Partner.

Once registered, the Global Superuser will:

• Receive access to the Global Assessment platform.
• Decide which country-level question sets the organisation will complete in addition to the Headquarters question set.
• Assign each selected question set to a relevant National Superuser.
• Oversee progress and ensure timely completion across all assessments using the inbuilt dashboard.

Each National Superuser is responsible for coordinating the completion of their assigned question set. This includes:

• Assigning each of the 10 business areas (or Pillars) to the appropriate National Users.
• Ensuring all questions are answered accurately and supported by evidence where required.
• Submitting the completion question set before the deadline.

National Users are responsible for answering questions within the Pillars assigned to them. These users should be individuals with deep knowledge and decision-making insight into the area they are covering. For example, the person leading on reasonable accommodations might be best placed to complete the Workplace Accommodations pillar. Choosing users with relevant expertise will ensure that your assessment is accurate, insightful and useful for shaping your future strategy. We suggest you make sure that National Users:

• Are aware of their involvement well in advance.
• Understand the benefits of completing the assessment accurately.
• Know when and how much work they will be required to complete.
• Have capacity to complete their assigned questions prior to the submission deadline.
• Have access to the information they need to complete their assigned questions.
• Are set up with access to the digital LearnDash platform.

Participants will respond to all questions on a virtual platform called LearnDash, making it easy to answer questions and assign them to colleagues around the world. This tool is embedded on our website and uses your existing Business Disability Forum login.

Support to complete the Global Assessment

Each question set comes with its own detailed User Guide, which includes:

• An explanation of each question and why it is being asked.
• Guidance on how to interpret and answer each question.
• Details on the evidence needed (for verified Headquarters question sets only).

We recommend that anyone answering questions consults the relevant User Guide as they go to ensure their responses are as accurate as possible. If you are unsure how to answer any questions even after reading the User Guide, you can contact us for tailored advice.

Evidence requirements (verified assessments only)

Verified assessments require you to submit evidence for 50 per cent of questions. This may include providing us with:

• Policy documents
• Screenshots (e.g. of intranets or systems)
• Web content
• Internal communications

Evidence is submitted to your assigned Senior Business Partner via the method that best suits your organisation’s data protection policies. All documents are stored and deleted in accordance with our data protection policy.

Preparing your organisation

Before signing up, it is essential to secure internal buy-in. The Global Assessment requires input from key stakeholders and support from senior leaders. Senior leadership commitment is essential as senior leaders can use their influence and authority to direct and organise the necessary resources to ensure that all questions are answered accurately.

We recommend engaging the strategic leads in the 10 business areas covered by the Assessment, which may include:

• Leadership
• Human Resources
• Marketing and Communications
• Facilities
• Learning and Development
• Procurement
• Technology
• Customer Services

The right contacts will vary based on your organisation’s structure. If you are unsure, we are happy to advise.

To support you in building your internal case, see our guide: ‘How to make the case for completing the Global Assessment.’

Timelines for the Global Assessment

The Global Assessment is run in a set window each year to support with operational planning. The key dates are:

1. Before 15 September 2025 – Secure organisational buy-in
2. 15 September to 26 September 2025 – Sign up period
3. 26 September to 5 January 2026 – Prepare internal teams to complete the assessment
4. 5 January to 27 March 2026 – Assessment open for completion
5. By 27 March 2026 – Submit all responses and evidence where required

Self-assessments will generate scores and feedback reports immediately upon submission. For verified assessments, you will receive your score and feedback 6 to 8 weeks after the submission deadline.