Recruitment Tip: Is Your Website Accessible to IWDs?

Did you know your compliance requirements for reasonable accommodation apply to your use of online j...



Did you know your compliance requirements for reasonable accommodation apply to your use of online job application systems? Companies should review their career website and Applicant Tracking Systems to ensure they are accessible to Individuals with Disabilities (IWDs) and disabled Veterans who wish to apply for a job with your company. For instance, is your career site compatible with assistive technologies such as screen readers? Do visitors to your site have the option to change text size or colors? These are just a few considerations when assessing the accessibility of your career site. 

The Website Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium has developed guidelines for website accessibility and offers “Easy Checks” of website accessibility with respect to page titles, images, text, forms, multimedia, and more. According to the WAI website, here are some resources for evaluating your website: 

Easy Checks—A First Review of Web Accessibility Provides simple steps to help assess if a web page addresses accessibility.

WCAG-EM Overview: Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology Introduces WCAG-EM, an approach for determining how well a website conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

Involving Users in Web Accessibility Evaluation Provides guidance on including people with disabilities (“users”) in accessibility evaluation throughout Web development.

Evaluation Approaches for Specific Contexts Describes evaluation during the development process, ongoing monitoring, evaluation of legacy sites, and evaluation of dynamically generated Web pages.

Selecting Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools Provides guidance on choosing which Web accessibility evaluation tools to use to help evaluate Web accessibility.

Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List Search Provides a comprehensive list of Web accessibility evaluation tools that is searchable and sortable.

Using Combined Expertise to Evaluate Web Accessibility Describes the composition, training, and operation of teams of reviewers evaluating accessibility of websites.

Template for Accessibility Evaluation Reports Presents a format for communicating results of a Web accessibility evaluation.

For addition accessibility evaluation resources, visit WAI’s webiste here

To learn more about employing IWDs, check out this free white paper, “Employing Individuals with Disabilities—Understanding the Latest Requirements, Updates, and Potential Changes.”

Michele Hester, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Director of Affirmative Action and Training Services
Michele Hester, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Director of Affirmative Action and Training Services
With over 25 years in the human resource industry, Michele is an expert in HR practices and procedures related to affirmative action and EEO compliance. Michele oversees Berkshire’s Affirmative Action and training programs.

Contact Us

Get in Touch With a Berkshire Expert