8 Companies Who Are Making Great Managers Out Of Their Differently-Abled Indian Employees

According to a 2013 finding, people with disabilities account for 1% of the total Indian corporate workforce. However, it is heartening to see that leading companies of India Inc. isn¡¯t making them feel like a minority, but giving them a dignified quality of employment.

Jubilant FoodWorks

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Jubilant FoodWorks, which owns the franchise for Domino's Pizza in India, has introduced a programme that will see differently-abled employees in managerial roles in a year or two. The company also plans to have one differently-abled worker in tier-1 city outlets that have 25 or more employees, said Biplob Banerjee, executive vice-president-human resources and and CSR, Jubilant FoodWorks, which also runs the Dunkin' Donuts chain in the country. With this initiative, Jubilant FoodWorks has become the latest in a growing list of companies in India that are chalking out the career paths of people with disabilities and training them for managerial roles.

IBM India

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Earlier this year, IBM India put in place four-hour awareness sessions for senior employees on unconscious bias and the need to include more differently-abled employees in the workforce. "Differently-abled employees bring in a diversity of thought to the organisation, and hiring such persons is a business imperative for us, not a CSR activity," said DP Singh, vice-president of HR (India/South Asia) at IBM And at IBM, there's a commitment to always target hiring of more such persons than they did a year ago.

Ernst & Young

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At EY, differently-abled talent is sourced through the Ability Foundation in Chennai, and a governance mechanism is in place to monitor such recruitment programmes for the differently-abled.

Infosys

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In December last year, Infosys launched a 'practice guideline' aimed at sensitising, informing and enabling functions like HR, facilities and infrastructure, transport, and technology support teams to deal better with disability at the workplace. "The guideline details practices and recommendations intended to enable stakeholders to make informed choices in their line of duty towards building an inclusive workplace," said Aruna Newton, head of global diversity and inclusion at Infosys.

Dell

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Dell's employee resource group, 'True Ability', for people impacted with disabilities and/or special needs, held workshops across all its sites in India on International Disability Day last year to sensitise people on the issue of special need .. The company also provides software or services that enables persons with disabilities to productively work with the systems and technology infrastructure.

Accenture

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Accenture¡¯s inclusion and diversity sponsors and practitioners from FY15 will have a business card printed in Braille. Last November, Accenture established the India Accessibility Council, comprising leaders who directly influence and impact accessibility and accommodation outcomes. "The council has identified four work streams -- physical accessibility, technology accessibility, assistive technology accessibility and attitudinal accessibility. These work streams have laid out specific milestones which the council will focus on achieving going forward," said Parag Pande, managing director of HR, Accenture (India). And the coming months look positive, as other companies are looking to actively hire more people with disabilities.

SAP Labs India

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SAP Labs India has set a target of hiring an additional 10 differently-abled persons by the end of this year. The company recently implemented the suggestions that came from a formal accessibility audit of all its facilities, which includes special evacuation chairs for people in wheelchairs, Braille signs across all buildings in the campus, brighter lighting outside buildings at night and relevant education for all support staff. "By 2020, SAP aims to have 1% of its global workforce made up of autistic employees, who can be fit into relevant IT roles," said Kiran Venkataramanappa, lead for Autism at Work for SAP in India.

EMC India

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Last year, EMC India rolled out an internship programme called 'Redefine Abilities' exclusively for differently-abled people, under which 12 interns worked with the company for a year on technical and non-technical projects.

Inputs from Economic Times