For the second consecutive year, Land O’Lakes has earned a top score of 100 on the Disability Equality Index, a comprehensive benchmarking tool through Disability:IN.

To understand what it took to achieve this score, we sat down with Jodi West, business analyst for Global Dairy Ingredients and the co-founder of the Land O’Lakes disAbility Awareness Employee Resource Group (ERG). The disAbility Awareness ERG works to support and increase accessibility for those with physical and invisible disabilities.

What are some of the things that Land O’Lakes has done to achieve this score?

This past year, one of the biggest wins for our Employee Resource Group was getting closed captioning added to our Zoom package. This involved a large cross-functional team, and the change has had a great impact for our employees.

From a business standpoint, we also partnered with our Land O’Lakes Supplier Diversity program, which supports businesses owned by veterans, minorities, people with disabilities, women and people who identify as LGBTQ.

We enhanced accessibility for our careers website. Anyone can call our HR Solutions Center if they need assistance completing the job application. Digital accessibility is accessibility, too.

We’ve participated at job fairs that connect us to people with disabilities, established relationships with college/university disability student services offices, and established relationships with government organizations that serve people with disabilities. We also have external candidate development programs in place that focus on skill development and/or job placement of people with disabilities.

disAbility Awareness also has had a focus on mental health since it was founded – what can you tell me about that?

Disability is a broad spectrum. Mental health has a stigma, and we are working to change that. We have had a focus on mental health before COVID and especially during COVID, as some people were struggling.

LifeEvenBetter, our employee wellness program, offers 12 free in-person or live video sessions per member, per year. You don't have to be enrolled in a Land O'Lakes Medical Plan to access this benefit.

As an ERG, we offered group therapy as well; topics included how people were dealing with virtual learning for children and family gatherings over the holidays during COVID. We had people attend from different Land O’Lakes locations within the U.S., so it was great to see our reach expanding.

And since we’re a farmer-owned cooperative, we’ve also worked to support farmers’ mental health by collaborating with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in rural communities.

What’s one thing that has surprised you most in the past few years since forming the disAbility Awareness ERG?

I think there are a lot of things that Land O’Lakes has going on behind the scenes across many departments to make things better. We’ve also had great support from our executive sponsor Thea Keamy, who is the senior vice president of Strategy at Land O’Lakes.

Our employees here do care about these issues, and they’re helping us take action and maintain a continuous improvement mindset.