PWDs get work opportunities in corporate world

Success doesn’t happen in an instant. Rather it is given to those who are driven and eager to take risks. Often perceived as liabilities, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) tend to oppose that perception and are now making noise in the corporate world.

Fueled with the desire to learn and work with the skills and talents they have, PWDs represent a new start of a productive beginning – as they showcase their potential in a global scope.

According to IBM’s Global Disability & Inclusion Program Manager Yves Veulliet in a video testimonial for the International Labour Organization (ILO), People with disabilities can be described in three words: talent, talent, and talent – and that we should look at the person’s skills and talents, not their disability.

Project Inclusion is a Unilab Foundation program which aims to broad the employment of PWDs in the country and to promote the benefits of hiring them. The program has now collaborated with 22 different employers. To date, partner employers are now recognizing the strengths and benefits of having PWD employees as they have seen significant gains in their company.

Citihub, a Filipino social enterprise that provides affordable housing for low-income workers in key areas of Manila is one of the partner employers of Project Inclusion. “One might think that by hiring PWDs, your work efficiency will go down, that you’ll have to make a lot of adjustments but from what I have experienced, with good job matching for their capabilities, [PWDs] can perform way better than abled individuals. For example, our housekeeping staff are deaf. I would say they value their work more than a regular abled person. They’re never late; they’re always on time. They appreciate it. They work better, they’re more efficient. And the environment in our dorms gets better too. People get to be more patient, more understanding, because of the interaction with the PWDs,” said CEO Panya Boonsirithum.

Southstar Drug is a drugstore subsidiary of Robinsons Retail with almost 500 branches all over the Philippines. At present they have 25 PWD’s in their staff. Training manager Chrsistine Pambuan explains her thoughts on her PWD colleagues, “Pag match yung skills nila, that lessens the turnaround time for so many tasks, Tasks that would normally take a month, nagagawa nila agad. And with fewer errors, kasi they’re very conscientious, and you also have that confidence na hindi sila magloloko.”

It is clear that having PWDs in the company is an advantage rather than a liability with all these testimonies from both companies – this just testifies that PWDs are really flexible, organized and fussy in finishing the tasks that are given to them whether it may be dealing with the public or in office contexts, their interactions did not only produce positive outcomes but also generated results that are beyond expectations.

Looking forward, both companies have plans of employing more and more PWDs as they see the positive effects the PWDs brought up to their companies. Both Boonsirithum and Pampuan emphasized that their respective companies will surely hire more PWDs with skills and talents and will continue to support Project Inclusion and its cause.

All the other employers that accepted Project Inclusion surely has their own success stories to tell. This only affirms that developing inclusive workspaces has its own benefits to the corporate world and the perception that PWDs are liabilities is definitely unacceptable for they will always exceed the expectations that are set in their workplace – for they are the kickoff to success. (Aj Cyril Chaves, HCDC Intern | w/PR)