“Good diversity management means new opportunities for companies”

Corporate social responsibility and disability expert, Ramón Giró, will be one of the speakers in the seminar “Work as a crucial element for the integration of disabled people in the labour market”, taking place on 22 November in the UAB.

18/11/2016

Diversity in business management goes way beyond occupational integration because it has to do with company values. Diversity in business management implies the creation of new policies and practices regarding diversity at every department in a company.

On 22 November, the UAB and Treball Campus will be hosting the seminar “Work as a crucial element for the integration of disabled people in the labour market. How can we ensure the enforcement of the General Disability Act (GDA) in Spanish companies?” The seminar will revolve around the role of companies in the non-compliance of the General Disability Act – abbreviated here as “GDA” – after recent studies concluded that this is the case of most businesses. In the seminar, several disability experts will discuss and highlight the rights of people with functional diversity and companies’ responsibility on this matter.

Corporate social responsibility and disability expert, Ramón Giró, will be one of the speakers at the seminar.

1.    How would you explain the situation of the employment of disabled people? Is it more damaged by law or by businesses’ organisational culture?

For most companies, it is one thing to comply with the GDA and it is another to have 2% of disabled workers among your staff as compelled by law. Companies can perfectly well comply with the GDA without hiring one single disabled worker. Such a contradiction can be explained with what is known in Spain as the Alternative Measure. Legally, the companies have a few options to comply with the LGD without necessarily having to hire disabled people and this is something that needs to be reconsidered. It is also important to note that companies usually lack tools to learn how to manage the employment of disabled people.

2.    How come some companies don't succeed in hiring people with functional diversity even if they are willing to?

Luckily, every day there are more companies who wish to hire people with functional diversity, but the reasons why they don’t seem to succeed are most varied: the lack of knowledge along with common prejudices; the demand for specific profiles; contacting applicants; physical and technological accessibility; and other reasons related to the organisation of the company itself. All these obstacles can be overcome by transforming diversity into a key aspect for business management.

3.    How would you describe diversity in business management?

I think companies need to stop talking about occupational integration and start talking about diversity in business management instead. This concept goes way beyond occupational integration because it has to do with company values. Diversity in business management implies the creation of new policies and practices regarding diversity at every department of the company.

This provides companies with means to develop integration policies. These tools will not only help companies comply with the current legislation, but see for themselves that, if well handled, diversity management means new opportunities to bring out new products and services and stand out among competitors.

4.    Which are the companies hiring more disabled people and why?

Services companies, such as cleaning and auxiliary services, are the ones hiring more disabled people. These are also the companies that usually have the greatest number of workers. However, what is important to note here is that disabled people are as good as anyone to do a job; that is to say that there is no job that cannot be done by someone with a disability, because the diversity of disabled people – with very different kinds of disability – who want to work is enormous.

5.    As a professional, tell us some tips you would give to disabled students who are looking for a job related to their own educational training.

To me, finding a job related with one’s educational training is like finding a permanent job for your entire life. In my case, I have never had a job related to my educational training, probably because I studied Arts at college.Actually, I’m still not sure of what job suits my educational training exactly.

First of all, a college student with a disability needs to work on a good academic record and, when the time comes, he needs to ask for an internship so that he can start working and gaining some experience. Right now there are plenty of companies willing to hire disabled students as interns but they can’t find any. When looking for a job, disabled students need to use all the means available to them: integration services like our own, contacts, professional networks, anything. Once they are called for a job interview, they need to prepare themselves for it because often the most important thing is attitude and persistence – maybe they don’t succeed the first time –. Moreover, they should never forget they have greater chances than their non-disabled colleagues when applying for a job. As a disabled person, graduating from college takes real courage, and that is something employers can't help but value.