Available to everyone: Sber releases guide to help any company adapt its services for persons with disabilities

Ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3), Sber designed and uploaded a guide to creating accessible services. Available to everyone, the guide can help any organization enhance its inclusivity.

The document contains specific recommendations on digital and physical accessibility, and the adaptation of products and services. It talks about the most common difficulties people with various health conditions face when interacting with organizations, how to help and effectively interact with them. The guidelines also address such important aspects as universal design and the social model of disability.

Sber believes that being guided by the requirements of the law only when dealing with people with disabilities is wrong, and it is in the interests of business to deliver the highest level of services to such customers. Therefore, the guidelines are based on the analysis of the best Russian and foreign practices.

The document is conveniently structured by the types of business units (for example, HR, marketing, call centers) and business profiles (taxi, cafes and restaurants, delivery, and so on). In addition, there are checklists for self-testing and monitoring the progress in different fields of adaptation, including a separate piece for managers. On top of that, the guide has links to other materials in the field of inclusion, which are useful when creating and maintaining accessibility.

Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank:

"Over 11 million Russians have some form of disability today, and each of them has their own special needs. We call these customers special customers. The maturer an inclusive culture is, the more opportunities it gives each of us, regardless of health peculiarities. Unfortunately, the work of creating an accessible environment in Russia is still based mainly on the personal involvement of individual business leaders and is not systemic in nature.

"At the same time, the philosophy of serving people with special needs is no different from that of serving any other customer: the objective is to provide them with the most convenient and comfortable service. Therefore, inclusivity is not only a social, but also a market challenge to a large extent: when facing it successfully, a business gets new loyal customers and improves their quality of life. I believe that our guide will become a guidance for thousands of Russian companies of all sizes, from micro-sized businesses to the largest corporations, and will help them make their products and services available to everyone."

The guide is posted on the SberBank website in the Special Bank section. Sber is interested in making the guide as useful as possible. Anyone can help improve it: all you need to do is fill out the feedback form at the bottom of each section.

Sber has been in the business of customizing its services for over five years and is an inclusivity leader in the banking industry. At the end of 2020, Sber came on top of the integral ranking of Russian banks in terms of the quality of services for persons with disabilities, which was compiled by the NAFI Analytical Center and commissioned by the Bank of Russia.

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