How Inclusive Is India Inc.?

Companies have the intent to hire people with varied sexual orientations, physical disabilities, and neuro diversities. However, only the top firms are walking the talk. A diverse workforce that represents people with varied sexual orientations, diverse races, ethnicities and those with disabilities is a must-have according to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDG). Though India Inc. is still a while away from embracing diversity in the true sense of the term, companies have started taking baby steps.

According to human resources solutions firm Careernet, though 70% of Indian employers have the intent to have at least 3-5% of their employees from the LGBTQ community, only 1.5-2% companies managed to successfully recruit LGBTQ talent last year. Though more than 65% companies have a clearly stated policy to include people with disabilities, less than 25% of office spaces are ‘disabled friendly’. Also, close to 60% of PWD (people with disabilities) hires are made at the entry- and middle-management levels. Very few make it to senior leadership roles.

Most organisations prefer hiring only people with locomotor disabilities, and are not ready to absorb those who are visually handicapped or even those with speech and hearing impairment, says S. Pasupathi, COO, Careernet. “In case of locomotive disability, they don’t have to invest too much as most buildings by and large are locomotive-disability friendly. They have ramps and wheel-chairs available. For visual disabilities, they have to invest in braille-enabled software. In case of the hearing impaired, they have to invest in training their workforce to communicate in sign languages. Firms look at these as additional costs, not investments,” he adds.

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