FOR DIFFERENTLY ABLED PEOPLE, CORPORATE LADDER IS A STEEP CLIMB
They accounted for just 0.6% of the total staff strength in the last financial year
Salesh Dipak Fernando, 34, travels 8 km daily from his home at Anna Nagar in Chennai to Chetpet in an Uber. Sometimes, he takes an Ola. There is nothing extraordinary about this, except that the cab ride is the smoothest part of his day.
Once he reaches office, the odds are stacked against him in a host of ways. His biggest problem is that companies underestimate his abilities. Fernando has cerebral palsy, a muscular disability which limits the movement of his limbs, and he has repeatedly had to prove to others that he is capable.
Until last year, he worked at a large corporate in Chennai and his role spanned across finance, tax and operations, and he loved his job. But although he had put in five years in that company, he was repeatedly overlooked when it came to giving him additional responsibilities. “They thought I wouldn’t be able to cope with it,” says Fernando, who now works as an editor with an events management company.
His frustration would resonate with many other jobseekers with disabilities. From a lack of career opportunities to inaccessible transport to indifferent co-workers and supervisors, the corporate environment is often a hard place for them.
The theme of this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities, on December 3, is “empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.
India has 26.8 million people with disabilies, or 2.21 per cent of its 1.2 billion population, according to Census 2011. Most disabled people, even those who went to college and university, find it hard to get a full-time job — and statistics confirm this.
An analysis of the top 100 Indian companies shows differently abled people accounted for less than 0.6 per cent of their total staff strength in the last financial year.
And even when they do get a job, companies fail to make adjustments to meet their needs. “The problem arises because of a lack of understanding at the workplace. This stems from the rigid corporate structure and not knowing what a differently abled person actually wants,” says Fernando. “There’s a gap between what we need and the company’s perception of our needs. Even when there’s a genuine attempt at bridging the gap, the companies fall way short,” he adds. Sample this. The first company where Fernando worked didn’t provide him with transportation facilities for over two years despite his request.
When it comes to a corporate career, the success or failure of a disabled person depends on the level of involvement by the top management in inclusive hiring practices, says Syamala Gidugu, secretary, governing board & executive director for Action for Ability Development and Inclusion, which trains PwDs for employment opportunities.
“Most companies do not have a written policy on employment of PwDs (people with disabilities). Those who have wellstructured HR practices for PwDs showed improvements in business results too,” she adds.
Among those companies are Accenture, Infosys and KFC. Accenture through its ‘Skills to Succeed’ corporate citizenship initiative has equipped more than 20,000 persons with disabilities in India with job skills by the end of fiscal year 2018. Fast food chain KFC, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, has been running a project for the hearing and speechimpaired since 2008.
“We currently have 170-plus specially abled employees at 20 ‘Special KFC’ restaurants across the country,” says Aman Lal, chief people officer, KFC India. These employees function across roles and ranks — from cashiers and attendants to managers. The company, however, doesn’t have any set policy on the number of PwDs to hire in a year.
Infosys has been hiring PwDs since 2006 to work in software development and back office. It has gone a step further by incorporating their housing needs in its HR policy. Richard Lobo, executive vicepresident and head HR, Infosys, says once on board, employees are encouraged to declare their disability status in order to facilitate appropriate accommodations to enable physical and virtual accessibility to the workplace.
Not all of this action, though, may be voluntary on the part of the companies. Part of this may be driven by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017, which requires that 3 per cent of their workforce is differently abled.
Under these Acts, the companies have to provide assistive technology, tailor-made training and support systems to ensure that PwDs learn and grow in their jobs. The support systems are meant not just to teach the PwDs but also sensitise the workforce in general. For instance, KFC has partnered with different organisations in different cities, who train their managers and interpreters in specially abled KFCs.
“During the training period, we have translators who explain everything to the employees simultaneously in sign language,” says Lal. Employees of a ‘Special KFC’ are trained by respective store buddy trainers, and every store has seven to nine buddy trainers. “Additionally, we have a detailed orientation programme for the hearing and speech impaired,” he adds.
As companies gain an understanding of disability, they are using technology to make workplaces more inclusive. Accenture has developed AI-enabled tools to improve their productivity and the way they experience the world. This includes two innovations — Drishti: an artificial intelligence (AI) powered solution to help the visually impaired improve the way they experience the world around them and enhance their productivity in the workplace; and Dhwani: Another AI solution that converts speech to text to offer hearingimpaired users real-time captions during Skype conversations, video training, webcasts, and even face-to-face conversations.
“The companies have to review their HR policies and align them to the principle of diversity and inclusion (which includes PwDs.) There are organisations which specialise in this area and would support the companies,” adds Gidugu.
“A differently abled employee can bring a range of skills, talents, qualifications and abilities to an organisation,” says Arun KL who works with Quess Corp, a business services company in Bengaluru. “In the right job given the rights opportunities and facilities, employees with disability perform at par as any other employee,” he adds.