Equal Chances: Employing the Hearing Impaired

10:16 PM

Photo Taken from: http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/disability-discrimination-10-conditions-employers-might-realise-can-disability/

Today, in our class, one of the cases discussed was about the CSR in Lamoiyan corporation. Honestly, I have no idea with who Lamoiyan is, it was only in the class where I found out that they are the manufacturer of Hapee toothpaste. I am familiar with Hapee; I see it on groceries and sari-sari stores everywhere in the Philippines. Their endorsers are quite big as well. However, I still prefer other brand to use, because my family sticks to that brand ever since the toothpaste world has begun.

Anyway, one of the notable things about Lamoiyan is employing deaf people in their company. As we all know, it’s hard to get a job when one of your senses is impaired, especially in our economy when there’s a lot of normal people looking for a job. Now, with this kind of initiative, opportunities are given out to hearing impaired people and of course, this is really a good initiative. As stated in UN under article 1 of human rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, which should implies that as long as we are qualified regardless of whether we are impaired or not, we should have equal rights for job opportunities. And this is what Lamoiyan promotes, the equality between normal and impaired people.

As I said, I’m not really familiar with Lamoiyan Corporation, which makes me believe that the company is relatively small as compared to other toothpaste manufacturers. Now, my reflection is this: If small companies can do initiatives like that, then bigger companies have no excuse not to take part in hiring these impaired people. Obviously, Hapee is not the number one toothpaste brand in our country, but the company was still able to sustain this initiative. Although they have other products like Dazz dishwashing liquid, Licealiz shampoo…etc. Among all those product Hapee is the most popular one, which does not even make it to number one or two in terms of competitiveness.

I think that if all companies will be hiring impaired people, depending on the nature of job, our labor force will be more diverse, opening opportunities to different people with different abilities. It’s like giving equal chances among all. According to Lamoiyan owner, Dr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro which is a graduate of De La Salle University, deaf employees are actually the best. In an interview in ABS-CBN news, he said, "If it’s just manual (referring to the job), if it’s just using the hands or the eyes, they’re as good as you and me—in fact, they’re more focused because of their handicap.”

I remember when I was working in JP Morgan Chase in Taguig, one of our colleague is lame, suffering from Polio. Having a polio does not hinder him from doing a job well done, since the job only requires computer operational tasks and walking or running is not really a requirement. I believe hiring impaired people does not really make any disadvantages to the companies as long as they are fitted to work on the nature of the job.

Recently, I've read an article about Southstar Drugstore who's hiring PWDs as employees. These employees who are initially hired under probationary will have a chance to become permanent employees once they passed the evaluation process. Majority of these PWDs are distributed along different branches of the drugstore in Manila, while others are in the main office. According to the drugstore, this is not for a charity cause, they are really open to hiring PWDs, and said that these employees will be treated just like other employees.

For me, the initiative of Southstar Drugstore is really helpful for the disabled. They are actually hiring people with autism which is usually viewed by the society as mentally disabled making them appear as if they are not capable of doing any job. Of course, now that a company is accepting them, it just proves that they are capable of having a job, just like an ordinary person. Furthermore, this initiative indeed promote equality between PWDs and normal person.

Another benefit of hiring PWDs in the company is that they stay in the company. On an HR perspective, employee retention is one of the top goals since hiring new workers is costly for the company. Millennials nowadays are labeled as job hoppers since they tend to switch jobs from time to time (and I am a bit guilty with it). But for the impaired people, since only few companies are looking for them, there is a greater probability that they will stay long in the company.

In terms of employment costs for the impaired, companies spend money for charity programs such as donating to the poor, hosting charity events, sponsorship, etc... Instead of giving them assistance through this charity programs, which is also costly, why not give them a stable job? This is a more permanent solution in terms of supporting their daily needs. Feeding programs will definitely feed the handicaps for a day, but providing those jobs will definitely feed them for years, making them more stable and independent. And I believe that this is really the true meaning of CSR. It’s the ability to include social responsibility in the daily operation of the company, making it a truly sustainable CSR program, dedicated to make contributions for the betterment of the society.