Business & Community Foundation, India

Charity to Parity

Workshop on the Employment of People with Different Abilities
10th January 2005

As the first step in this direction, Navprerna, in association with SAO, IAMA Ghaziabad, PIC and BCF, organized a symposium cum exposition for the industrialists of Ghaziabad on 10th January, 2005. Trust and commitment between business and their stakeholders will underpin tomorrow's successful companies.

Objective of the symposium:

The objectives of the symposium were as follows:-

To create the employment opportunities for persons with disability in the Industries of Ghaziabad.
To sensitize the industrialists on the potential of persons with disability.

The long term objective of this symposium was to form an inclusive society where persons with disability are also an important player in the socio economic development of their community.

During the workshop, the following issues were discussed:
An introduction to disability and legislative provisions
International and National trends in employing PWD's in the Private sector
Business Case on employment of people with different abilities in small & medium enterprises
A film by Balloons on employing PWD's in the Private sector
Sharing of experience of employing PWD's by the CEO of a SME

The workshop commenced with a welcome address by the General Secretary, Shri Sudhir Janmeja of the Ghaziabad Industrial Area Manufacturer's Association and saw a substantial turnout of the various industrialists spread over Ghaziabad, to attend the symposium. Following the welcome address, there was a short 'Bhajan' recital by Master Tapas (A visually challenged student of DPS).

Mr. Sudhir Janmeja threw light on the objectives and itinerary of the program. The key industrialists on this occasion were welcomed by the host by presenting them with bouquets.

Address by Dr. Atul Jain, Chairman Ideal Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad

Dr. Jain was invited to the dais to share his experience of associating with the PWDs. He was the president of the Rotary Club that organized the aforementioned camp in conjunction with Navprerna.

Dr. Jain emphasized that the disabled are very confident people and in his experience he has observed the output generated by the PWDs is by far greater than their non-disabled counterparts. He added that empathy was the key factor in understanding the situation of the disabled and to help them in the right direction.

He also assured that in his individual capacity, in the capacity of being involved with the Rotary club and through his iron manufacturing association, he would do everything possible for protecting the rights of persons with disability and promoting their inclusion in the mainstream society.

International and National trends on employing PWDs in Private Sector

Under this segment of the symposium, presented by Mr. Viraf Mehta, CEO of PIC, the relationship between employment of PWDs and the Private sector, both globally and on a national level was discussed.

Emphasis was laid on the fact that intangible assets like a company's reputation and value with key stakeholders are increasingly being linked with the company's market value. In such a scenario, managing diversity is increasingly being seen as a key factor in determining efficiency and productivity. It was also pointed out that businesses that embrace diversity in their workforce access untapped reserves of talent and also open up new markets as well as improve their operational efficiency. It was also underlined that a diverse workforce promotes new sources of ideas, enhances reputation and loyalty, both internally and externally and builds brand loyalty for the company.

It was also noted that with increasing globalization there is a need to define common values that embrace increasing levels of diversity as well as comply with a host of environmental, social, labor and human rights guidelines and standards.

The business case for the employment of PWDs was also discussed wherein it was observed that employers of PWDs have consistently reported that disabled people are as productive and reliable as any other employee and that in living their day to day lives, many disabled people develop their transferable problem solving skills that are invaluable in their workplace. It was also pointed out that disabled people in work tend to have better attendance records and stay with their employers longer. Most do not require adjustments at work. It was also observed that staff morale and team development are enhanced with business men are seen to be good employers of people with disability and also that there are potential benefits of a company associating itself with NGO's working for the rights of people with disabilities.

As for legislation, it was examined that many countries have civil anti-discrimination legislation protecting the rights of the disabled. Further, a European directive requires that all EU member countries implement civil anti-discrimination legislation protecting disabled people in employment. On the Indian front, there has been legislation that makes provisions for the disabled employees.

It was also mentioned that disability has been incorporated in a number of labour standards like the ILO, SA 8000, Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and the Gradient Index amongst many others.

While concluding his presentation Mr. Mehta's pointed out that there exists a symbiotic relationship between disability and poverty indicating how poverty can be curbed and reduced by the induction on the disabled people in the mainstream.

Business case of employing PWDs in SMEs

Ms. Richa Tyagi, Program Officer of Business and community foundation, conducted the above-mentioned segment. She brought to notice the Abilities Mela that BCF organized in Delhi for the benefit of the disabled people, which was an attempt to bring disability centre-stage within the realm of CSR. One of the objectives of the Mela was to match the skillsets of the differently-abled with the available job opportunities.

The audience was also made aware of the fact that in the face of globalization, the private sector looked quite vibrant and that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the sector. It was also stressed upon that SMEs constitute over 90% of the businesses worldwide and also account for between 50-60% of employment as well. It was further elucidated that in the current situation of globalization, the significance of diversity in the workplace has accelerated. In the face of such facts it still remains that out of the approximate 610 million PWDs in the world, 386 million are of working age.

Following the above, focus on the Indian scenario was drawn upon where it was mentioned that the Persons with Disability act 1995 has adopted a scheme of 3% reservation for the disabled in the public sector and in stark contrast the corporate research study (1999-NCPEDP) has shown that the average percentage of employees with different abilities is merely 0.4%. The causes for such a low percentage of employment of the disabled were listed as fear and stereotyping of the disabled and in some cases resentment and anger.

In order for the disabled to be employed in the mainstream workforce, it was emphasized that SMEs should overcome deep rooted prejudices, ensure that business strategies aim to realize the potential of the disabled and lastly that employer's organizations should advocate the business case for employing the disabled amongst their associates and in consultation processes at both the national and global level.

Sharing of experience of employing PWDs by CEO of a SME

This segment was conducted by Ms. Pratibha Khattar, CEO- Prati Kreations. She drew on her experience of meeting Mr. Gulati, in the year 2004 and how she was convinced of employing the disabled into her workforce. She emphasized that the induction of the disabled was done solely relying on their merit and not owing to sympathetic factors. She added that 10% of her staff employed at Prati Kreations is differently-abled and that their output is at par with the remaining 90% of her workforce.

Ms. Khattar added that a potential employer of a disabled person should fundamentally rid himself/herself of prior prejudice and focus on the merit of the disabled person. She strongly emphasized on the need for people to be non-discriminatory in their approach to the disabled and assured the industrialists present at the symposium that the employment of PWDs is in fact a workable proposition and that it only enhances the output of the SME as well as adding to its brand loyalty.

A film by Balloons on employing PWDs in the Private sector

The audiences present at the symposium were also shown a film presented by Balloons that visually exhibited the efficiency of various disabled people working at diverse organizations. The film also contained interviews of some of the disabled people successfully employed in various organizations. It also contained news shorts from various channels like NDTV, Star news etc, that covered the employment of the disabled and their experiences.

The film also listed the various garment manufacturers and other SMEs that have employed the disabled as also the various NGOs which have been associated with Balloons.

Significance of the symposium

The symposium had an almost immediate outcome in the fact that a large number of participants came forward in lighting the lamp signifying that they would give an opportunity to persons with disability to be gainfully employed in their industries. Mr. Chawla, a banker and head of the publishing house of a local news paper and Mr. Singhal, CEO of an export house in Ghaziabad, came forth that they would hire at least 5-10% of persons with disability in their industries. The workshop ended with the National anthem played on Casio by Master Tapas.