Bengaluru: India Inc has stepped up hiring of people with disabilities (PwDs) in manufacturing processes, seeking to make the workforce more inclusive, foster innovation and build a more socially responsible ecosystem, according to industry executives.
Companies such as Godrej Consumer Products, Tata Motors, PepsiCo, Diageo, and Honeywell are bringing in more PwD talent on the shop floor, putting in place emergency communication systems like GPS tracking to ensure their safety, introducing accessibility audits to identify infrastructure gaps, providing priority parking and setting up tactile flooring and disabled-friendly bathrooms.
Earlier this year, Godrej Consumer Products announced the launch of two greenfield projects in Malanpur and Tamil Nadu, envisioned as ‘lighthouse factories’.
“We have hired 15 PwDs and will be adding maybe another 10 by the closing of the financial year across both factories,” said Sandhya Ramesh, general manager, diversity, equity and inclusion at Godrej Consumer Products.
The firm plans to extend the accessibility measures piloted in these projects to its existing plants and continue to identify new opportunities to create an enabling ecosystem for PwDs, she said. Tata Motors is integrating PwDs into its workforce through cohort-based hiring in core manufacturing. Groups of 20-25 individuals have been systematically onboarded in its Pune and Jamshedpur plants, and the company has hired a total of 137 PwDs across its plants, primarily with technical backgrounds.
“We run regular accessibility audits, sensitisation, role mapping, job fairs and training, and ensure that the onboarding process goes beyond just hiring, offering greater psychological safety and long-term success for PwD employees in challenging roles,” Sitaram Kandi, CHRO at Tata Motors, told ET.
Panasonic has hired PwDs across its electric works offices and factories working in various capacities. Similarly, at its appliances factory in Chennai, such employees on the shop floor are responsible for the assembly of rice-cookers and some work in the administrative department, said Adarsh Mishra, CHRO, Panasonic Life Solutions India.
Diageo India has more than 52 PwDs working across its manufacturing units as part of its initiative Project Saksham.
Atypical Advantage, a livelihood platform for PwDs, is seeing increasing interest from companies to hire PwDs, with industries such as food manufacturing, FMCG, semiconductors, automobiles and hospitality leading the way.
Honeywell India is finalising a detailed accessibility audit, which will serve as the foundation for its nationwide workforce inclusion initiative. The company is looking to establish pan-India infrastructure to support and empower people with disabilities in its workforce.
However, there is a mismatch between the demand for PwDs in the workforce and the availability of candidates with the necessary skills and qualifications, said Atypical Advantage’s Saraiwala.