Nestlé Canada Inc. Multi-Year Accessibility Plan
Nestlé Canada Inc. Multi-Year Accessibility Plan
Nestlé operates in many countries and in many cultures throughout the world. This rich diversity is an invaluable component of our company’s culture. In keeping with the Nestlé Corporate Business Principles, it is our objective to create and maintain an integrated climate of equal opportunity and mutual respect. We believe in treating all people, including our consumers, employees, customers and partners, in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence. Flowing from this belief, we are committed to meeting the needs of people with disabilities in a timely manner.
The purpose of this Multi-Year Accessibility Plan (the “Plan”) is to identify the policies and actions that Nestlé Canada Inc. (“Nestlé”) has implemented in order to prevent and remove barriers to accessibility in its operations and to satisfy its obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the regulations made thereunder (the “Act”). This plan is reviewed on an annual basis.
A. Accessibility Policies
Nestlé has developed and implemented a variety of accessibility policies designed to meet the needs of people with disabilities. As required, Nestlé will review and update these policies on an ongoing basis, in order to ensure that we are meeting our accessibility commitments and the requirements of the Act.
Nestlé’s accessibility policies are available to the public, upon request, including in accessible formats. Please contact us to request a copy of Nestlé’s accessibility policies.
B. Information & Communication
(i) Nestlé’s Public Websites
Nestlé is committed to ensuring that its public websites are easily accessible to people with disabilities. To fulfil this commitment, Nestlé has established a cross-functional team responsible for ensuring that Nestlé’s public websites meet specified requirements of the Web Contest Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (the “WCAG 2.0”). The WCAG 2.0 is an internationally accepted standard for web accessibility developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, a community of experts from all over the world dedicated to developing web standards. The WCAG 2.0 sets out guidelines for organizations to follow to make their websites more accessible, covering matters such as writing web content in clear language, providing alternate text for images and ensuring websites can be navigated by keyboard.
Nestlé’s cross-functional team has ensured that all public Nestlé websites (including all content posted on those websites after January 1, 2012) conform to the WCAG 2.0, Level AA and applicable standards outlined in the Act.
(ii) Feedback Processes
Nestlé seeks out, receives and responds to feedback from its consumers, employees, customers and partners in a variety of different mediums and formats. Nestlé is committed to making these feedback processes accessible to people with disabilities. If it is established that Nestlé feedback processes are not accessible to a person with a disability, Nestlé will work with that person to receive and respond to their feedback in an accessible format. For such requests, please visit the Contact Us page on each of our websites.
In addition, Nestlé will review and update its feedback processes on an ongoing basis, in order to ensure that we are meeting our accessibility commitments and the requirements of the Act.
(iii) Publically Available Information
Nestlé is also committed to providing its publically available information in accessible formats, upon request. For such requests, please visit the Contact Us page on each of our websites.
C. Training
Nestlé believes that its accessibility commitments can only be fully achieved when its employees and volunteers, and those acting on its behalf, have a clear understanding of the issues faced by people with disabilities and Nestlé’s related obligations. As a result, Nestlé has established a cross-functional team responsible for developing and delivering accessibility training, which was implemented by January 1, 2015. In particular:
The training covers the requirements of the Act as they apply to Nestlé’s business, as well as Nestlé’s obligation under applicable human rights legislation related to people with disabilities.
At a minimum, the training will be provided to all Ontario employees and volunteers, and those acting on Nestlé’s behalf in Ontario (for example, contact centres).
Consideration will be given to whether the training needs to be modified depending on the recipient’s function within the Nestlé organization.
Training will be updated on an ongoing basis as new employees, volunteers and partners join the organization and as policies evolve.
Notwithstanding that our practice has generally been to train all stay including factory employees on AODA, our most recent audit of training records indicated a lack of training records for 600 of our factory employees at one site not being captured in our Learning Management System which we believe may be due to an issue of properly recording the training. We are addressing with the following actions: 1) Effective immediately all new staff will be training on the AODA and it’s requirements during new hire orientation and 2) All staff will be refreshed on the training during their annual compliance training in January 2025.
D. Employment
Nestlé is committed to maintaining fair, open and accessible employment practices. To fulfil this commitment, Nestlé has established a cross-functional team responsible for reviewing and revising Nestlé’s current employment practices with the goal of improving accessibility. In particular, Nestlé took the following steps as of January 1, 2016:
The team reviewed Nestlé’s existing hiring processes and implemented revisions in order to ensure that: (i) job applicants are informed of accommodation options during the hiring process; (ii) Nestlé is able to promptly provide any requested accommodations during the hiring process; and (iii) successful applicants are advised of Nestlé’s policies for accommodating employees with disabilities.
The team developed a communication plan in order to ensure that existing employees understand Nestlé’s policies for accommodating employees with disabilities.
The team developed a policy or defined process regarding accessibility for employees, which address: (i) the provision of workplace information to employees in accessible formats upon request; (ii) the creation of clear and consistent individualized accommodation plans for employees with disabilities; (iii) the appropriate process to follow when supporting an employee’s return to work where a disability exists; and (iv) the embedding of accessibility considerations into Nestlé’s existing performance management, career development and job change processes.