Innovative Steps Towards Disability Inclusion at Merck

Unlock the secrets behind Merck's groundbreaking digital accessibility policy as Dr. Stephen Framil, the Corporate Global Head of Accessibility, joins us to share his invaluable insights. Learn how Merck's Disability Inclusion Strategy Council catalyzed the creation of an inclusive digital environment, ensuring all users, including those with disabilities, can seamlessly navigate their digital landscape. Dr. Framil takes us behind the scenes to reveal the collaboration between Merck's chief diversity office, IT organization, and business units, offering a comprehensive look at the structural nuances that make this policy robust and resilient.

Discover the global ramifications of regional accessibility legislation and how Merck is proactively embedding accessibility into procurement and system development. From incorporating accessibility clauses in master service agreements to influencing software providers to adopt best practices, we cover it all. Dr. Framil also touches on the strides being made in physical accessibility at Merck's headquarters and the critical role of dedicated accessibility stewards. Finally, we broaden the conversation to discuss the impact of accessibility across various sectors, setting the stage for future dialogues in this essential field. Join us for this enlightening episode and stay tuned for more captivating discussions.

Chapters

• 0:01 Global Accessibility Initiatives at Merck
• 17:00 Driving Global Accessibility Initiatives
• 33:45 Accessibility in the Media Industry

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello and welcome to Access Chat. I'm delighted that we're joined today by Dr Stephen Framel, who is the Head of Accessibility at Merck MSD, big pharmaceuticals company that you may not have heard of, but you've probably ingested some of their products at some point in your lifetime. So, stephen, I know that you've a long track record of leadership and executive leadership. You've also got a really nice, beautiful sideline in music as a cellist and conductor, and we love classical music here. But for today at least, can you tell us a little bit about your work in accessibility, what your role is and how you came to be in this role at Merck?

Speaker 3: 0:48

Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be here today to join you all. As mentioned, I'm the Corporate Global Head of Accessibility at Merck and MSD and I kind of, when I talk about how this all began, I kind of go back to where this all started. And this started in one of our business consortiums that sits underneath our chief diversity officer, and this is specifically our Disability Inclusion Strategy Council. I often say this is where our accessibility program policy was born out of this group, and this happened, I think, probably about six to eight years ago, when that group was actually formed. For all of our workforce and, by extension, our patients and consumers as well, was the need for ensuring that we had all of our digital landscape accessible. And so, back in 2020, I was just a contractor at Merck Nobody knew I was a contractor, but this is where I brought together a cross-organizational team to write the policy for digital accessibility, and we were thinking not only just internal but also external that we have, because it's across the entire company, all divisions, all business units and really ensuring that anything with a user interface is designed in such a way that everyone, including people with disabilities, can effectively and meaningfully interact and communicate with the digital content, whether it's by their own means or with the help of assistive technologies, and so that was in 2020. And, of course, we went through the paces, as one does with any sort of new policy that you're introducing to the organization, and, after a couple of visits with executive leaders, we got it passed and published on April 1, no fooling of 2021. And since then, have been rolling the policy out, really kind of taking a risk-based approach for those things that are externally facing, because I believe, with digital accessibility, that we're moving past the notion of, okay, this is a company value, this is the right thing to do, to uh-oh, it's regulatory and we actually have that accelerating. It's a rising tide.

Speaker 3: 3:44

We have the European Accessibility Act coming next year, june 28. It's actually been in the works since 2019, but it's coming due June 28. And, depending on what business you're in, it can have an impact, and for us, it's our e-commerce sites and our human health and animal health division. But that is just the baseline for what member states of the EU are required to do. Member states can actually go above and beyond that, and so we want to make sure that anything we have externally facing, of course, is accessible following the Web Content Accessibility Guideline standards. That's just one. You have other laws that have been placed in other countries. You have this new California Assembly Bill 1757 that is being kind of looked at that really extends the liability to third parties supporting businesses in their websites, and so it's something that okay folks. Yes, this is the right thing to do. This is part of our company values, but it's also becoming regulatory, and so this is just kind of part of that movement of advancing accessibility.

Speaker 3: 4:59

And I think I've got way off on a tangent about what I do at Merck.

Speaker 3: 5:02

But so I created the Office of Corporate Accessibility and I described that as having co-sponsorship from three different areas.

Speaker 3: 5:15

First, from our chief diversity office in terms of the thought leadership. Where is this all coming from? Where are the values? But you can't expect our chief diversity officer to be implementing it across our technology landscape, and this is where we partner with our IT organization to really enable the thought leadership, and that also then empowers the business to advance accessibility within their respective digital portfolios. So really it's kind of like a three co-sponsorship level for the organization, and I think most large organizations don't just have accessibility sitting within one particular place, whether it's IT or compliance or customer experience, but it's kind of across several, and that's what I think gives it really the strength and stability to move forward, because, as you know, large organizations and small love to reorganize about every five seconds and to be able to weather that type of reorganization that's constantly happening in large companies. Having that co-sponsorship really kind of gives it that security and that stability so that, as one part of the organization is reorganizing, there's still the stability within the other two areas, and so that's what we've done at Merck.

Speaker 1: 6:35

Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, so we have an executive steer co-firm accessibility in the same way. So you have those key stakeholders for accessibility in the same way. So you have those key stakeholders. And I take your point about, yes, it is the right thing to do, but the regulations are massively increasing. I've actually gotten to the point where we set up an accessibility regulatory function in my team because we identified over 300 different regulations that are pertinent in the countries we operate in. It's a huge amount to make sense of. I know Antonio got a question and Debra's got questions as well, but I just, you know I hear you about the complexity and the ever-changing movements of executives and organizational structures. I'll hang over to Antonio.

Speaker 2: 7:24

Okay. So my question goes in a similar direction. Knowing that you are present in many different geographies, that you have to implement this in your organization, how do you make sure that everyone is on board and this is not just a project coming from the head office to try to address some emerging trends on the regulatory landscape?

Speaker 3: 7:57

So, yeah, we mentioned the steering committee. I've got three levels. Within the Office of Corporate Accessibility, we have four main work streams governance, communication, training, all of which drive change, change management. On the governance piece, we already mentioned the steering committee. I've got three layers to that. Beneath the steering committee, we've got our leadership forum. This is also cross-organizational kind of mid-level leadership to be able to help guide the evolution of the policy, the expansion of it, adding job aids for specific channels, that sort of thing.

Speaker 3: 8:35

And then boots on the ground very important. And so, over a year ago, I established our accessibility global steward network, and in every country that we operate we've got at least one, if not sometimes two. So, while there's certainly assistance from our IT organization, the business is ultimately responsible, and so, in fact, in writing the policy, it was intentional that we said that the business is responsible for ensuring accessibility and it is part of the cost of doing business, of owning that digital asset, and so it's part of their annual budget to remediate and to monitor and to keep it going. So, at the country level, we've got an accessibility steward. I meet with each of them on a monthly basis for half an hour to really make sure that they understand what the requirements are going year over year, what they should be working on, anything that they need help with, and so I really see this as an extended, dotted line team that really is making this happen. They were kind of like the change agents, but over this past year I've been meeting with each of them one-on-one monthly and then we had a big accessibility steward summit in Prague back in February where about over half of them were able to come together and really learn from each other and kind of share their successes and their sad stories with each other and really try to explore ways in which they could leverage each other's wins and learn from everything.

Speaker 3: 10:40

And so the Steward Network extremely important, and we're looking to do the same thing. This is mostly within our human health division, looking to do the same thing in animal health, and then when we look into Merck research laboratories and manufacturing to see what appropriate can be done, I see huge opportunity in the clinical trial space for this sort of approach of accessibility stewards, given any particular drug or medicine or any particular protocol, quite honestly. So we'll see how that works. But that, I think, is really key and the thing is about our accessibility stewards today is that this very much kind of aligns and overlaps with what their day-to-day role is already, and so they were self-selected at the country level and like who would be most appropriate to fill this role. And so it's not a far reach, it's not a big stretch assignment for them. It's kind of aligns with what they're doing already. But it's very exciting to see the dedication, the passion that really for this globally, and so that's how we make it happen globally.

Speaker 4: 11:59

Thank you for being on the program today. I really have known about what you're doing with Merck for a long time and I appreciate it. Also, I think it's interesting the stewards, and so the accessibility stewards. They would have just self-appointed themselves and this would be a collateral duty. This is not their main job. This is just another responsibility that they're taking on, probably because they really care about this.

Speaker 3: 12:27

I'm going to assume yes absolutely, and with each country, each organization. Just to clarify, I leave it to each country to determine who is the best person to fit that role. So it's not quite self-selection but it aligns with what the needs are. And how every country operates is very different. They have different dynamics going on and so I leave it to them to determine where the best fit is. And certainly there is, you know there's, there's change of roles and responsibilities. They hand it off People, you know, but they keep the thread. Even though there may be a big restructuring. They say, ok, we need to make sure that we've got someone in this, in this accessibility, steward role, and so so far, you know it's not getting dropped, it's, you know they're, each country is carrying the responsibility forward.

Speaker 4: 13:29

And so do you all train those to make sure everybody's on the same page.

Speaker 3: 13:34

Oh, yes, yeah, we've had training.

Speaker 4: 13:36

Right, just so that they understand what Merck's expectation as a global corporation is for accessibility. Because it's nuanced. It shouldn't be, but it is nuanced Because, like you said, different countries have different, you know, looking at it in different ways, so accessibility is just not the same in everybody's eyes. So I think that's true.

Speaker 3: 14:00

Well, we point to our company policy. We do follow Web Content Accessibility Guideline 2.2 AA, which is slightly higher than we try to stay at least one step ahead. We'll see how long that happens. I think when 3.0 comes out, you know we'll certainly upgrade to that. So every country has their laws. I know the European Accessibility Act points to 2.1 AA, so we're just kind of staying just a little bit above and regardless so far. You know they do have to follow country laws but regardless of that to date we've so far just been one step ahead. So we're following the company policy and so far that keeps that's just one step ahead of all the countries.

Speaker 1: 14:46

So Excellent, I I sorry, Deborahah, did you have one?

Speaker 4: 14:52

yeah, go ahead go ahead.

Speaker 1: 14:54

I really like the, the, the name of steward, because it implies care. A steward is someone that sort of nourishes and looks after something, and we have, we have some similar roles. We call them spots, you know, single point of contact, and we have them. Like you, it's a very matrix structured organization and so we have people by country and function that are taking care of this, this stuff. But but spock is more, you know, doesn't have that same implication of giving nature, giving a toss about this thing and nurturing. So so I mean they do but I like that.

Speaker 1: 15:30

But I like the term steward. It does really imply that taking of care. So when you are dealing with the complexity of a large organization, you're also buying in a lot of services and IT and infrastructure, because I doubt very much that you're writing all of your. You know employee self-service systems and everything else. You probably got them from a big German company located somewhere in the Waldorf area, right, and they have always taken a view that it's up to the people that implement that are responsible for accessibility. They document it but, yeah, you know the, the european accessibility act doesn't apply to them.

Speaker 1: 16:21

So I was really interested in you talking about the, the stuff that's coming in california where it's saying that third-party suppliers are now going to be really held responsible, because this has been an area where, as an organization that we're a systems integrator, we buy in. So Atos, the company I work for, is a systems integrator. We buy in a lot of stuff and we configure it for people, so we have to take responsibility for other people's products. So it's really interesting to see this move. How do you think that that's going to proceed? Do you think it will have an impact globally, like some of the legislation Because regulations that come out of California. They've had impacts on emissions over the years in vehicles and so on, so regional legislation can have a global impact, right?

Speaker 3: 17:20

Yes, well, probably everyone will be aware, but then they'll take it seriously when there's the first case law that comes along and that'll inspire everyone to get on board. I mean what we've and, yes, we have suppliers. So there's a couple of things on that front which I think I'm happy to say. We are currently taking positive steps forward here and hopefully get things in place over the next few months. One is around our global procurement, and so this is where, in our master service agreements and contracts, having specific accessibility language for anyone who's providing digital products and services, and so that can, of course, be in IT, that can also be in the marketing side, because they'll be doing their own contracts with their agencies of record, creative agencies and so forth. That, I think, will be a huge step to ensure that whatever we're buying is accessible Additionally, and so let's say, you've got a provider that you've been working with a long time. Their software is very much embedded into your ecosystem and there's no way that your company is not going to use it. So this is where it's a very patient and measured influence conversation, where trying to move them in the right direction, where, OK, these are and it can take a while it can take, I often say in any large company it takes anything from 18 to 24 months to do anything on a global scale, at least a new idea to get it. So for our enterprise accessibility platform system or record, it took me 18 months from due diligence to licensing enterprise wide.

Speaker 3: 19:28

So I think the same thing as when you're having these conversations with your global procurement, because they're not experts in accessibility and you know, ultimately the job owner, the business owner of the digital asset is responsible. So it's really finding those sets of controls, controls to ensure accessibility. Which leads me, then, to another conversation, I think today actually, where we're inputting common controls within our systems development lifecycle process so that we've got accessibility activities, specific accessibility activities, highlighted so that as you're taking any digital asset through the lifecycle, it's going to call out have you done an accessibility testing on this? Or design evaluation to ensure that the design is accessible, things of that nature. So that to me, is very exciting, where you're kind of embedding into your process the entire need and activities for accessibility and activities for accessibility.

Speaker 3: 20:37

Let's see. I mentioned procurement, the SDLC and, of course, having those conversations with your providers of your internal software that you're using to conduct business, and if they're not there, if they don't already have a VPAT, which doesn't really ensure anything, a voluntary product accessibility template, it's having that conversation and moving them in the right direction. I've often said that if you're a software provider and you're not accessible, and you're not accessible, it's just a matter of time till you're either irrelevant or out of business, or both.

Speaker 4: 21:29

So, but are y'all also focusing on this from the lens of built barriers to make sure that your buildings because this is digital and we want everything to be digital, but we also really need to make sure that your buildings, because this is digital and we want everything to be digital, but we also really need to make sure that we have access to all of the buildings and things like that as well?

Speaker 3: 21:47

So that's a great question and this is where the work that I do with our Global Disability Inclusion Strategy Council, which I'm the co-chair and we have really that's inwardly facing and that's really kind of what is that employee experience from interviewing all the way through? Okay, I'm retiring or I'm leaving the company? What does that mean in the interview process? What does that mean in the accommodations process? If you need certain tools to help you be more productive or to help you do your job and any sort of support that you may need, there's two environments to that, to all of that.

Speaker 3: 22:32

There's the digital environment, which we've been talking about, and then there's the physical environment for our buildings and facilities, and that's an area that I don't have any leadership or input into, but we work side by side and we have done that with our headquarters campus in Rahway, New Jersey, where they've done a lot of work in terms of making sure that the building is accessible. You can open any door with a wave of a hand and not have to actually open it. Even the choice of tiles at the landings of stairs are slightly different, so for those who are visually impaired can see the difference like okay, I'm now stepping into the landing of the stairs, Even tactile on the hand, railings of stairs to let you know that, okay, you're getting to the end of the staircase or at the top of the staircase, things of this nature, and so a lot of input for universal design and how we've done that. They've all been able to do that during the pandemic, when the building was mostly empty, so they were able to do those upgrades and my understanding is that, as much as possible, as much as possible taking this and replicating it in various offices that we have globally the fantastic thing.

Speaker 3: 24:06

I'd like to kind of connect the dots with the stewards and facilities, because and this is where you let the stewards kind of run with it you know they understand the mission. Then they see opportunities that you'll never have visibility to. So I looked to our steward in Portugal and she really began to identify like oh, here are places within our building that we can make more accessible. The way we have it now makes absolutely no sense. That is not in the overall role description of the accessibility steward. She's going above and beyond it and owning it. That's the thing about the stewards, the ones who are really successful. They own it and they own it beyond the digital environment into the physical environment, and they're bringing in local people who are leaders in DE&I to work with their local country group, and so I look to Portugal as a great example.

Speaker 1: 25:14

So you're going to get Antonio excited, right, because he's from Portugal, so I know he's going to want to comment. But I also had a comment. You said you've got the two environments. I'd actually say there's a third right, and that's the cultural environment.

Speaker 1: 25:33

Right, when you address the first two, you're also then helping to create a culture of psychological safety and inclusion. That then enables people to be more open about their needs and everything else. So you're creating this kind of virtuous circle. Yes, people can have open conversations about what it is they need, what the barriers are and everything else conversations about what it is they need, what the barriers are and everything else. Because until you are actually walking the talk as an organization by making those changes both to the software, to the procurement policies, until people can actually see that there is something behind the policy with real actions, it's difficult for people to trust.

Speaker 1: 26:17

Right, there's a lot of uh, a lot of anxiety amongst the, the employees with disabilities that if they come out and they talk about this, you know, in a change of, if there's a change of leadership, you know they can't go back into the closet, and so it's only when you do that sort of culture change that you can start really making that happen. So kudos to you for doing that. And it sounds like the stewards are really part of that culture change. And yes, one, did you want to come in? I think we had a comment. Oh, it looks like he's yes. Oh, it looks like he's yes.

Speaker 2: 26:56

Yeah, well, in part, the regulation in terms of building accessibility is much, much older than the digital. It's also an area where, because of the visibility, is a sector that people are more aware of and, while digital, to be fair, portugal is still on the road to understanding parts of digital accessibility, and the fact that we are having the European Digital Accessibility Act is actually boosting and making business in the overall more aware of its importance.

Speaker 3: 27:48

Yes, yes, absolutely, on my way to Prague. The last time I had a layover in Madrid, I mean, it was just a few hours, but what struck me was the attention to an accommodation for people with disabilities just in the airport. And that's what really struck me like wow, spain has got it going on, you know, and I was just like wow, this is just because, you know, I've been in a few airports in my life and this is one that really struck out my recent memory. So, yeah, that's that's fantastic, fantastic to see. Neil.

Speaker 4: 28:36

You said something and I'm trying to remember because I had a comment, but we'll see if it gives back to me. I will say that I have multiple friends of mine that are blind, that say that when they're born again blind, they want to make sure they're born in Spain. So Spain really does stand out from.

Speaker 3: 28:50

Oh, wow OK.

Speaker 4: 28:53

Oh yeah, and there's a lot of reasons why, but it goes back to an earlier war that they had, where they really wanted to support the people that had sustained so many vision problems.

Speaker 2: 29:10

Yes, in terms of physical spaces buildings that is an area where they excel, not exactly the same in relation to digital accessibility. So buildings and infrastructure is something that they excel, particularly in the sector of tourism. They are probably one of the best examples in Europe in relation to accessible tourism. On the area of accessible space, we cannot exactly say the same, even if they do a very interesting job in terms of if you are a tourist with disabilities and want to buy hotel services online. The level is not yet at the same level, but they are usually a good anyway. They are a good example in Europe.

Speaker 3: 29:59

Yes, absolutely, neil. I wanted to comment on what you had talked about employees and the workforce identifying, and I think what I have found is that, and just because we do a lot of internal communications, quarterly internal webcasts, and the responses I get are is that a lot of the workforce finds it relatable. It's relatable whether it's you know someone in their family or their own personal experience, and, of course, the old adage that we're all aging into disabilities is relevant. And, of course, in pharma, this is where there's the idea that just because we're patients are our purpose. That's one of our taglines at Merck, and so patients come with comorbidities, frailties and disabilities, just by the nature of being patients, and so this is where it's extremely important to how we do our business.

Speaker 3: 31:03

But it's also relatable because we've all been a patient at some point in our lives and, additionally, therapeutic therapies and even different types of disease state have disabilities that go along with them, whether it's visual impairment, with diabetes, and so, as we're creating those patient interactions for diabetes therapy, it's having in mind that, yes, perhaps we need to be designing, you know, with more of a nod to visual impairment, because that's the comorbidity that goes along with diabetes. Additionally, when we think about cancer therapies and I know this from personal experience about a year ago is that chemotherapy causes neuropathy in the fingers and also tremors and also cold sensitivity, and so these are situational, sometimes temporary disabilities that you know. The neuropathy can become permanent. Fortunately for myself, I'm about 98.5%, you know, fully recovered as a musician.

Speaker 4: 32:14

That's really important.

Speaker 3: 32:17

Yes, now, you know I was in chemotherapy last fall for three months, very intense, and I was still performing throughout. Uh, you know, I was still still going. You know it was a weird sensation, but now my fingers, they're actually faster, I think oh, yay, yay, congratulations so I'm back.

Speaker 3: 32:39

In april I had a performance uh concerto performance of the vorzhak cello concerto. It was kind of my big milestone. Okay, we're back, Congratulations, Congratulations. That's the thing is that we can accessibility and disability awareness. Inclusion is relatable to everyone and it can happen to all of us, even if it's temporary or situational. It comes and goes. That's what I found. It's relatable and no one's going to say, oh well, it touches everyone. It's the most perfect DE&I concept because it cuts across every aspect of DE&I, because if you're a human being, then you're part of this.

Speaker 1: 33:26

It touches everything and I remember our first guest almost 10 years ago was Gareth Ford Williams and he was doing accessibility at the BBC and he said to the director general you know, I want the new role, I want to be head of everything. He no longer works at the BBC. I don't think that's actually related to his request of being head of everything. He no longer works at the BBC. I don't think it's actually related to his request of being head of everything, but it's true, Accessibility touches everything. It's been a great conversation today. It's been lovely to meet you and I'm really looking forward to continuing the conversation later on. I need to thank Amazon and MyClearText for keeping us captioned, accessible and on air. So thank you very much.

Speaker 3: 34:12

Absolutely Pleasure. Thank you for having me.