Creating an inclusive strategy for a multinational company

Wipro Ltd. is a global IT- and consulting company with a workforce of more than 170,000 people. In 2009, Wipro launched a formal Disability Inclusion Policy Framework and governance mechanism to create an inclusive environment within the company, benefitting more than 2,000 people with various disabilities.

Wipro Ltd. is a global information technology, consulting, and outsourcing company with a workforce of more than 170,000 people, serving clients in more than 175 countries. In 2009, the company launched a formal Disability Inclusion Policy Framework and governance mechanism to create an inclusive environment within the company, benefitting more than 2,000 people with various disabilities to date.

Problems Targeted

Wipro faces the challenge of ensuring that the company’s Disability Inclusion Policy Framework is disseminated across a very large organization in many countries. The organization stresses its importance to all employees – from senior management to support personnel – in order to display sensitivity in their day-to-day work, and to ensure that the policy becomes a part of the corporate DNA.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Wipro has taken the following actions: 
 ·  Employ and involve employees with disabilities to drive the initiative 
 ·  Create organization-wide awareness 
 ·  Build capacity of relevant teams to ensure universal design approach in the services 
 ·  Developed an online training module to cater to a large audience. To date, 55,000 employees 
have undergone the training. Further, Wipro has introduced a website tool to educate all employees in sign language. 
More than 1,000 recruiters and hiring managers have been certified on inclusive interviewing skills, and over 455 employees with various disabilities have found jobs, including in technical departments, human resources, administration, and consulting, in 2015. Moreover, Wipro has put together a 
 specific programme for supporting inclusive schools as well as early intervention programmes that promote inclusion, and each year it organizes several awareness events such as the International Day of Disability and the annual All Hands Meet.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

Wipro, being an inclusive organisation, has a budget for general activities under the diversity and inclusivity charter every year. The company reports that is has received interest from Shell UK, Thomson Reuters, and Google to visit and to replicate the model.

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THE STORY OF CHINNU MARIA BABU, ASSOCIATE CORPORATE COUNSEL

“I was awarded the Best Lawyer Award in 2013!”

Maria was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at the age of two. For three years Maria studied at the Bala Vidyalaya School for Deaf Children, in Chennai, where she learned to speak and hear with the help of lip reading and hearing aids. Subsequently, she studied in mainstream schools. After completing her B.A. and LL.B. (with honours) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, in 2011, she joined the litigation and compliance team at Wipro Ltd., and currently, at just 29, is an Associate Corporate Counsel. Maria works primarily in areas of immigration, data protection, and information technology. This involves advising various internal business teams and support functions on compliance with applicable laws and obligations thereunder, as well as engaging in corporate advocacy. Further, in September 2015 she represented Wipro at an international law conference at Oxford, England, hosted by DLA Piper – one of the top law firms in the world. “I have always found the people at Wipro to be incredibly supportive and well-informed about the needs of differently abled persons. It is due to this inclusivity and promotion on merit that I was awarded the Best Lawyer Award (in the under five years’ experience category) at the Annual Legal Meet in 2013. The incredible opportunities given to me by Wipro testify to the efficacy of its efforts at promoting career growth and all round development for differently abled people.”