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Fannie Mae Recognized for Disability Inclusion

For the third straight year, Fannie Mae has been recognized as a "Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion," earning a top score on the 2022 Disability Equality Index (DEI).

Launched in 2015 by Disability:IN and The American Association of People with Disabilities, the DEI is a comprehensive benchmarking tool that helps companies build a roadmap of measurable, tangible actions they can take to achieve disability inclusion and equality.

"We're honored to again be named a 'Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion' by the Disability Equality Index," said Sharifa Anderson, SVP and Chief Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Officer with Fannie Mae. "An incredible amount of passion and dedication to D&I is evident at all levels of Fannie Mae, as we continuously work to create an environment where employees with disabilities have an opportunity to thrive and contribute to our mission, challenge the status quo to foster a more inclusive company, and advance an equitable housing system for the renters and homeowners we serve."

The 2022 DEI measured the following attributes:

  • Culture and leadership;
  • Enterprise-wide access;
  • Employment practices, such as benefits, recruitment, employment, education, retention and advancement and accommodations;
  • Community engagement; and
  • Supplier diversity.

Led by the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, Fannie Mae is committed to promoting D&I opportunities for all through greater transparency, accountability, and focus on measurable outcomes for the company's D&I strategy, and contributions to the industry. Examples include:

  • Supporting employee resource groups (ERGs), such as the In-Visible Inclusion ERG, which seeks to empower and support employees with disabilities by providing education, raising awareness, and ensuring inclusion of individuals with disabilities. The In-Visible Inclusion ERG hosts educational sessions; panel discussions on inclusivity topics; employee benefits overviews; annual events for National Disability Employment Awareness Month; and the Caregivers Circle, a series of quarterly conversations focused on the challenges and rewards of caring for others. The In-Visible Inclusion ERG also contributes to the development of accessible Fannie Mae content, including accessibility labs to introduce employees to technology features that promote accessibility and disability etiquette training.
  • Embracing practices and technologies to promote accessibility, including dedicated resource pages where employees can access information about Fannie Mae's workplace accommodations, technology accessibility, and productivity features.
  • Inviting employees to join Courageous Conversations, safe space sessions where participants engage in candid dialogue on sensitive topics.
  • Providing Fannie Mae employees the opportunity to voluntarily self-identify as a person with a disability to help the company better fulfill its commitment to a D&I workforce.
  • Offering a menu of tools, training, and resources to promote a culture of inclusion and create a psychologically safe environment.
  • Forming the Employee Inclusive Culture Council, a collective of more than 25 employee-volunteers dedicated to championing D&I initiatives, and assisting in cultivating a more inclusive workplace.
  • Implementing a culture activation plan to refocus renters and homeowners as the primary beneficiary of Fannie Mae's work, while deepening the company's focus on equitable housing.
  • Partnering with disability inclusion organizations, including Getting Hired, an organization dedicated to helping inclusive employers connect with and expand Fannie Mae's recruitment of professional individuals and veterans with disabilities; and Disability:IN, a non-profit resource for business disability inclusion, which facilitates best and evolving practices among a network of 400 corporations.

About Author: Eric C. Peck

Eric C. Peck has 20-plus years’ experience covering the mortgage industry, he most recently served as Editor-in-Chief for The Mortgage Press and National Mortgage Professional Magazine. Peck graduated from the New York Institute of Technology where he received his B.A. in Communication Arts/Media. After graduating, he began his professional career with Videography Magazine before landing in the mortgage space. Peck has edited three published books and has served as Copy Editor for Entrepreneur.com.
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