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Wellness Without Barriers: Making ‘Accessible’ Scalable

CVS Health Case Study | Digital Accessibility Staffing

Onward Search CVS Health Digital Accessibility Staffing Case Study

Overview

Onward Search helped CVS Health, one of the nation’s leading healthcare solutions corporations, build and scale one of the strongest accessibility & inclusive design departments in the country.

The Challenge

A global priority, a healthcare necessity.

Across industries, accessibility is an ethical, legal, and financial imperative. In the world of healthcare, it takes on an even higher level of importance. Imagine if the immunocompromised population were unable to access the COVID-19 vaccine or ill patients could not fill their medication prescriptions. Persons with disabilities (PwDs) often need healthcare services the most, yet they also have the most difficulty accessing care.

A Fortune 5 market leader with over 44 million customers, CVS Health recognizes accessibility as a global priority and an industry necessity. A pharmacy chain, health insurance provider and more, the corporation’s many brands include CVS Pharmacy, CVS Caremark, and Aetna. Accessibility is at the core of each brand’s shared mission to help people with their health whenever and wherever they need it.

From in-store experiences to mobile applications, CVS Health sets out to put accessibility and inclusive design into action across every digital touchpoint. However, successful accessibility programs require quick access to niche expertise, and special talent searches demand deep understanding—which makes the right talent solutions partners as hard to find as the right talent.

The Solution

Client-driven specialization, user-centric success.

Our clients needed experts. So, we became the experts. Onward Search joined the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and launched a new practice dedicated to helping organizations build delightful experiences for all.

Led by our Practice Leader, Kate O’Connor, and Delivery Leader, Catherine Sherry, our digital accessibility staffing task force hired over 120 professionals for CVS Health at record speed. Together, we transformed our client’s once modest accessibility team into a full-fledged department, nearly 50% of whom have disabilities themselves. Today, CVS Health does not just build solutions for PwDs; it builds solutions with PwDs.

“I’m finally able to start a life of my own,” declared a visually impaired accessibility engineer our team hired. We’re immensely proud to have helped professionals with visual, auditory and cognitive impairments find stable work with CVS Health. And our industry-leading client is equally proud of the tremendous work they accomplished.

“It’s not just about compliance; it’s about building a delightful experience. People with disabilities often view functional as exceptional. We take pride in raising the bar,” shared a representative of the rapidly growing accessibility department.

Anyone can recruit talent, but only specialists can understand talent.

Catherine Sherry, CPACC

Digital Accessibility & Experience Design Delivery Leader, Onward Search

By The Numbers

Relevant achievements and statistics to date:

From 4 to 100+
Helped CVS Health scale an accessibility team from 4 to over 100

120+ Hires

Hired 120+ accessibility professionals for CVS Health

30 in 3 Months

Made nearly 30 hires in 3 months for CVS Health

50+ PwDs

Recruited over 50 people with disabilities to CVS Health

5K+ in Network

Built a network of over 5,000 accessibility professionals

By The Capabilities

Accessibility objectives that we helped CVS Health power:

Accessibility Auditing

Remediation Planning & Execution

Internal Team Training & Process Improvement

Strategic Communications & Policy Development

Accessibility Project Management

End-to-End Digital Product Design & Innovation

By The Experts

Examples of accessibility specialists in our exclusive talent network:

Accessibility Architects

Accessibility Analysts

Accessibility QA Testers & Auditors

Accessibility Engineers / Accessibility Developers

Accessibility Project Managers & Program Managers

Accessibility Product Owners / Accessibility Product Managers

Accessibility Designers & Inclusive Designers

Accessibility CX Designers

Accessibility UX/UI Designers

Accessibility UX Content Strategists & Copywriters

Accessibility Trainers

Accessibility Directors, Executives & Leads

Your Search Ends Here

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