Most organizations have invested in making their public websites accessible. But what about internal platforms employees use every day?
Corporate intranets serve as the digital hub where employees access materials, collaborate on projects, submit requests, and find other information throughout their workday. Yet these internal platforms often lag behind public sites when it comes to accessibility, creating barriers for those with disabilities.
In fact, according to the FY24 Section 508 Assessment, only 41 percent of federal entities tested their intranet web pages, compared to 70 percent who tested public websites. Further, overall intranet conformance dropped from 59 percent to 52 percent, while public web pages maintained steady conformance rates around 62 percent.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one in four adults in the United States lives with a disability. Visual impairments, hearing loss, motor or cognitive disabilities, and other conditions can all impact how they interact with digital content. When content isn’t accessible, employees may feel disengaged and frustrated. Beyond individual impacts, organizations face productivity losses, compliance risks, and loss of trust.
Why Intranet Accessibility Often Falls Short
Several factors contribute to the accessibility gap in internal communication platforms:
- Compliance Blind Spots: While many organizations understand the need to make public websites accessible under ADA and WCAG requirements, they may not realize these standards also apply to employee-facing platforms.
- Content Sprawl: Unlike public websites, intranets grow organically as various departments and teams add pages, documents, and resources. Without careful monitoring, accessibility issues remain unchecked and grow over time. Data shows that federal entities that tested their intranets in 2024 only reviewed 8 percent of total pages, down from 26 percent the previous year.
- Limited Expertise: Many organizational leaders think that employee-facing platforms require less attention than public websites. Combined with limited in-house accessibility expertise, this means intranets typically do not receive the professional audits and ongoing monitoring that external sites do, even though employees with disabilities depend on these platforms to perform their jobs.
Building Inclusive Digital Workplaces
Accessibility isn’t an add-on feature or a one-time project: it’s an ongoing commitment that must extend throughout the digital ecosystem. Creating accessible intranets requires ongoing commitment across several areas:
Technical standards: Meeting WCAG 2.1 guidelines means ensuring proper heading structures, alternative text for images, sufficient color contrast, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility throughout your intranet environment.
Continuous monitoring: As teams create new sites, pages, and documents, accessibility should be evaluated and maintained.
Clear accountability: Organizations need visibility into accessibility compliance across their digital properties, with reporting that demonstrates progress to stakeholders and identifies areas requiring attention.
Scalability: As intranets grow, organizations need systems that can scan sites and document libraries comprehensively and flag issues before they affect employees.
For many organizations, the next step is bringing the same rigor to internal platforms that they’ve applied to external websites. That means treating intranet sites, document libraries, and other internal resources with the same accessibility standards that govern public-facing content.
Creating truly inclusive workplaces means ensuring that every employee can access the tools and information they need when they need it, starting with the platforms they use every day.
