Taken from Times of India.
AHMEDABAD: Anybody who has been to fast food restaurant chain KFC in Ahmedabad would have noticed the hearing and speech impaired serving customers with a smile. Companies in Ahmedabad are opening up to the idea of hiring differently abled employees, providing equal opportunities for them.
Vodafone Gujarat, for instance, has hired 256 differently abled agents for its call centres and an exclusive call centre with 36 visually-impaired agents under its project 'Swabhimaan'.
Pranav Lal, an employee at Vodafone, said, "My impairment does not stop me from going beyond conventional ways to lead projects at the company ."
Before hiring differently abled candidates, Vodafone created ramps on premises, bought wheelchairs, made washrooms easily accessible, arranged for pick and drop service and dedicated an emergency response team to evacuate agents in times of emergency .
"Before we could actually recruit the candidates, we ensured a comfortable environment for them. But we do not provide separate seating for differently abled employees as we do not want them to feel excluded," said Jayesh Gadia, business head Gujarat, Vodafone India.
For companies, it's a plus in terms of finding a dedicated talent pool and getting an image boost. Azure Knowledge Corporation, a business and knowledge process out sourcing company , has about 30 employees at different levels across its centres in Ahmedabad.
"It is very important for companies to be sensitive when it comes to hiring people who have less option in being employed. Usually , people impaired in one area are much competent in some other areas and their output tends to be better as they are more focused. All the employees are given equal opportunities and we have observed that hiring differently abled has increased the sensitivity of other employees," said Jay Ruparel, the co-founder and CEO of Azure.
Telecom player Uninor said that the company has more than 50 differently abled employees at various levels, part of customer facing functions like customer activation, customer relationship executive at the retail outlets and customer support at its call centers.
Pukhraj Kala, 28, who works with Uninor in Ahmedabad said, "My company has identified my shortcomings and my strengths, and designed my role and scope of work accordingly . Travelling was a major challenge for me in my previous telecom job, but here I got an opportunity of doing a desk job. This has not
only reduced the struggle and stress but also helped me increase my efficiency . Today I have equal opportunity to grow as all my other colleagues," said
Kala.
Source: Times of India.
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