Please welcome Disclo, the workplace disclosure and accommodation management software
Meet Disclo, the latest addition to Lerer Hippeau’s portfolio.
HQ: Austin, TX
Founders: Hannah Olson and Kai Keane
The problem: 200+ million Americans live with a chronic illness or disability — that’s over 70% of working-age adults — but only 3.2% of people disclose their disabilities to their employers. The reasons employees don’t disclose abound, and silence can lead to consequences for employees and employers alike. 96% of chronic illnesses are invisible, so if employees don’t disclose, no one will know until an adverse, and potentially quite serious, event occurs. On the employer side, among companies that don’t prioritize disability inclusion, shareholder returns underperform by 53%; disability discrimination lawsuits are common and expensive (avg. cost of $200K per suit); and, people with disabilities make up the third-largest market segment in the U.S., meaning the GDP could boost up to $25B if just 1% more joined the workforce. Both employees and employers need help managing these considerations.
Disclo’s solution: Disclo helps employers maintain compliance by tracking, managing, and reporting on disability disclosure and accommodation requests in the workplace. Their HIPAA- and SOC2-compliant platform is designed for maximum security, so employees can get the accommodations and protections they need to succeed at work safely and privately. Disclo integrates seamlessly with all major human resources information systems so the process is totally streamlined. What used to be tricky to administer and manage is simplified. Employees who have disclosed are 30% more engaged at work than those who haven’t. And these benefits come at little cost to employers: 56% of accommodations cost nothing for employers to execute. Disclo is the first platform of its kind — and its ability to solve for employee and employer experience equally is revolutionary.
Origin story: When co-founder Hannah was diagnosed with Lyme disease, she struggled to maintain a traditional workplace career. Hannah realized that conventional arrangements weren’t designed for people living with chronic illnesses and invisible disabilities. She teamed up with her former boss, Kai, to build a platform to support the health and accommodation needs of all employees, and Disclo was born. We met the team at the pre-seed and were impressed: the company was founded by veteran entrepreneurs and disability advocates and is backed by HR experts.
Why we’re betting on it: Workers with disabilities and chronic illnesses are currently the largest minority group in the workforce, but to date, they haven’t been served by any standard processes or platforms. The business case for employers is evident: they can save massive money and time by getting ahead of any compliance issues. Plus, accommodations will contribute hugely to employee retention, which is more important than ever amid the Great Resignation. It will no longer be a “nice-to-have” for employers to make reasonable accommodations for their increasingly diverse workforces — it will be a given, and Disclo is far and away the easiest way for companies to get up to speed.
Our take: The future of work is tied to empowering the individual employee to work in an individualized way — Disclo helps this goal materially. Companies of the future want, and need, to be forward-thinking in creating positive work environments for their teams. Disability and chronic illness disclosures are an important component of that modernization. Disclo simply makes it seamless.
Further reading: “Disclosing Disability Just Got Easier With New HR Software Disclo” via Forbes
