‘DIFFERENTLY-ABLED’: A ‘RIGHT FIT’ ININDIAN COMPANIES?

This Case Flyer, prepared based on an article1 from The Economic Times, highlights an important

trend in recruitment amongst Indian companies. Thus far, kept away from the mainstream

workforce recruitment arena, Persons with Disability (PwDs) are now increasingly absorbed.

Of late, several domestic companies and MNCs in India have been finding the ‘right fit’ among

the differently-abled people and recruiting them into their workforce. For instance, Café Coffee

Day, recruited people with hearing and speech disability as brewers and claimed that they were

the best brewers across all its outlets. Similarly, Coca-Cola, IBM and few others have taken

initiatives to integrate the PwDs into the mainstream workforce. Can they be as productive as

the able-bodied in terms of Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Emotional Quotient (EQ), Meaning

Quotient (MQ) and Ownership Quotient (OQ)? If yes, what kind of job profiles are they

suited to? Would they end up being discriminated, exploited and robbed off their due share of

progress? Can they be integrated into the mainstream in a true sense?

Pedagogical Objectives

• To understand various initiatives taken by Indian companies and MNCs in India to integrate

PwDs into mainstream workforce

• To contrast PwDs’ competencies vis-à-vis able-bodied employee workforce from the stand

point of view of IQ, EQ, MQ and OQ

• To discuss and debate on the inclusive recruitment initiatives from the stand point of view

of PwDs’ career growth and workforce integration in true sense

Positioning of this Case Flyer

This case flyer can be used in the following courses/modules:

a) Human Resource Management –

• Human Resource Planning and Recruitment – Recruiting a More Diverse Workforce

b) Strategic HRM

• Building a Diverse Workforce

ABSTRACT

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1 Prachi Verma, “India Inc Finds the Right Fit in Differently-Abled”, The Economic Times, September 5th 2014