A Potential Hire

More and more companies are hiring people with disabilities to strengthen their brand and tap into new customer segments

- SONAL KHETARPAL

When a former colleague and friend asked Pravin Tatavarti, Managing Director at talent management firm Allegis India, to employ his autistic son, he agreed. There wasn’t any reason to say no. Venkat had a masters in commerce and was applying for a data entry role. What he didn’t know was what this would entail. “I didn’t know anyone with disability and had no experience of dealing with them.” Venkat’s performance was decent but his social skills were poor. He didn’t greet anyone, would get jittery, and once even pulled a colleague’s hair. It was when he entered the ladies room that the human resources manager wanted him to leave. For Tatavarti, it was a litmus test considering that as the leader of a service organisation, his job was to help customers get the best out of people.

“Venkat did what he was wired to do, and to leverage his talent, we had to learn to make him a part of our life,” he says. He did a town hall asking employees to be sensitive and, instead of making a fuss, politely tell him to stop. That was in 2014. The company has come a long way since then. It now has 41 people (out of 5,000) with disability and an employment centre, ‘Garv Se’, which helps them find the right job.