When it comes to inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce, Indian businesses have a long road to travel.
Only 34 lakh of the about 1.34 crore people with disabilities (PwDs) in the employable age have a job in India, according to Equiv.in, a recruitment platform that cited govt data for the numbers. That is an unemployment rate of more than 70%.
“Very few in this group get decent education due to societal constraints,” Equiv.in CEO Naren Krishna said, citing this as a key reason for the high unemployment rate among people with disabilities (PwDs). His company helps place the disabled, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT), women & veterans in jobs.
Ashok Pamidi, the chief executive of Nasscom Foundation, the social arm of the technology industry body, said he estimated about 0.6-1% of the IT sector workforce to be disabled people. The sector employs around 40 lakh people in India.
According to him, this number wouldn't be very different for other sectors of formal employment.
News Agency has approached 20 companies, asking them about hiring of people with disabilities (PwDs), & the response largely corroborated with the views of Pamidi & Equiv.in. Some of them don't have concrete plans for people with disabilities (PwDs), but most have people with disabilities in the workforce, & are increasingly making their workplaces disabled-friendly with plans to recruit more.
Hindustan Unilever has 200 people with disabilities (PwDs) in direct & indirect jobs, in its workforce of about 18,000. The consumer goods firm has plans to make all its workplaces accessible by 2022 & recruit more people with disabilities, a spokesperson said.
Companies such as Infosys, Lemon Tree Hotels, Sodexo, Capgemini & Flipkart said they have stepped up hiring of people with disabilities (PwDs).
There is an advantage of hiring people with disabilities, said companies. They are less likely to leave the job, because the opportunities are limited at present.
“people with disabilities (PwDs) are known to be more loyal to organisations & therefore retention improves,” said Sreya Oberoi, Sodexo’s India head of diversity & inclusion. The company is planning to hire more than 100 people with disabilities (PwDs) & add to its existing pool of 100 who have either physical or mental disabilities, she said.
Aradhana Lal, the vice president of brand, communications & sustainability initiatives at Lemon Tree Hotels, said the attrition rate of employees with disability was half that of the company overall. The company has around 600 people with disabilities (PwD) employees, or 10-11% of the workforce that it aims to take to 20-25% by 2025.
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