There are 2.7 crore people with disabilities, be they physical or mental, living in India, as per the 2011 Census. To provide these people with a sense of self and social belonging as well as to help them become financially independent, a number of companies are taking steps towards making their employees' rolls more inclusive by hiring these people.
On the occasion of International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3, here is a look at a few companies welcoming specially-abled people without bias.
Mirakle Couriers
Mirakle Couriers, founded by Dhruv Lakra in 2009, employs low-income deaf men and women to help them in data entry and manipulation, tracking and scanning, sorting and other branch operations. The National Award-winning courier agency provides courier solutions for clients in Mumbai.
Lemon Tree
The Lemon Tree hotel chain has been employing differently-abled people since 2007. These employees undergo 10-day training in a programme called ‘See, Smile, Greet’. The company also employs people with Down’s Syndrome who receive one hour of training every day. They are provided with whistles to alert others when they feel overwhelmed.
Tata Group
The Tata Group hires differently-abled people for brands such as Titan Industries, Tanishq and Tata Motors. Titan, the watch-making division of Tata group, first started employing specially-abled people in the 1980s. Nearly 4 percent of Tata employees are from the differently-abled community. In 2016, visually challenged Vishal Kumar made headlines after being appointed as a project manager at Tata Motors. Vishal was a Class 9 school dropout.
KFC
KFC opened its first restaurant run by specially-abled individuals in 2008. Since then, the food outlet has employed more than 200 specially-abled team members and is successfully running over 30 special KFC restaurants across India. The chain conducts special training for these people over an 11-week period.
Café Coffee Day
CCD employs differently-abled people to brew coffee behind the counter. They are called the “Silent Brewmasters”. CCD started training and providing jobs to these people through the nodal agency for the recruitment of hearing-impaired Enable India.
IBM
IBM employs persons with disabilities (PwDs) in various departments such as project management, consulting, quality assurance and human resources.
Accenture
Accenture hires specially-abled people under its ‘Skills to Succeed’ initiative in India. Under the programme, PwDs are provided skill training for jobs such as hospitality, business process outsourcing and facilities management.
Wipro
Wipro has been hiring differently-abled people based on their merit across all roles and not just in “identified jobs” since 2008.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
