Synchrony Financial, India from Hyderabad bags the prestigious 17th NCPEDP-Mindtree Helen Keller Awards 2016

The company has been recognised for providing skill development and employment opportunities to people with disabilities

Hyderabad based Synchrony Financial, India is one of the 12 awardees to have won the 17th NCPEDP-Mindtree Helen Keller Awards 2016 instituted by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons (NCPEDP) that recognize exceptional work done by corporates and individuals towards promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities.These twelve awards are announced under three different categories including role model disabled person, role model supporter of increased employment opportunities for disabled persons and role model companies.

The awards will be given away on 2nd December, 2016, at India International Centre (IIC), Delhi on the eve of the World Disability Day (3rd December).

Synchrony Financial, India is an affiliate of Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) and offers contact centre solutions, fraud research support, process control, and Centres of Excellence for Finance, Analytics and IT. Synchrony Financial, India has partnered with various organizations like V-shesh, Youth4Jobs, Hyderabad Eye Institute (HEI) etc. to provide skill development and employment opportunities to people with disabilities. The organization employs a systematic and sustainable model to hire people with disabilities and build an inclusive environment and has incorporated best practices from organizations like BOA, Deloitte and NASSCOM.

​​Some key highlights are:
Education: SYF Volunteers create and edit audio books on various subjects in English and Telugu which are utilized by blind students to pursue their school and college education. They also serve as scribes to blind students during examinations.

Professional Skills Training: SYF Volunteers facilitate this training for members of the HEI rehabilitation centre on varied topics from writing an effective resume, preparing for interviews, framing impactful responses to elevator speech, attitude, motivation and body language.

Hiring Drives: Exclusive monthly hiring drives are conducted on site for persons with disabilities to build a pool of potential candidates. The headcount of people with disabilities increased exponentially from 9 to 59 in less than 2.5 years.

Grow and Promote: Placements have expanded across job types including critical roles and functions as well as disability types. From 2 processes in 2014 to 12 processes in 2016, this is a testimony of their commitment. Two of the disabled employees were also recently promoted into key positions – Managerial and Analytical.

Inclusive Workplace Activities: Sensitization and Sign Language workshops, mentor programs, speed networking sessions, customized development trainings, inclusive engagement activities and town halls, motivational sessions with people with disabilities and equal opportunity for disabled employees to travel to USA to represent the People with Disabilities Network.

In India, Census 2001 was the first time ever that persons with disability got mention. The Census 2011 data on persons with disability was a step forward. It revealed that of the 13.4 million people with disabilities in India in the employable age group of 15-59 years, 9.9 (73.9%) million were non-workers or marginal workers. Which means that only 26.1% of the productive age group of the country is employed.

"Every year, as new and new people, organisations and supporters come into the fold of the Helen Keller Awards, I look back and see the journey we have made. There has been sustained progress and while we have a long way to go; we have certainly created a community of aware and concerned 'doers', in the field of disability,” said Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, N.C.P.E.D.P.

Abraham Moses, General Manager, Mindtree Foundation said, “The Helen Keller Awards has been tremendously successful in drawing attention to the cause of people with disabilities and opening a dialogue on their intrinsic right to work. Inclusivity of people with disabilities has been a crucial aspect of Mindtree’s charter, Mindtree Foundation has done extensive work in developing technologies to assist people with disabilities.”

​​The list of awardees are as follows
Role model disabled person:
These awards are given to the disabled persons from within the disability sector and outside who have been active as ambassadors of the cause of employment for disabled people and are a positive role model for others.

1. Cegeo Thekkel from AMBA Core Centre (himself a person with intellectual disability)
2. Deepa Narasimhan at Dell EMC India COE (herself a wheelchair user)
3. Pratik Rajiv Jindal (himself a visually impaired corporate professional)

​​Role model supporter of increased employment opportunities for disabled persons:
The 2nd category of awards is Role Model Supporter for Disabled People which recognises individuals from within the disability sector or outside, who have contributed substantially to the cause of promoting employment opportunities for disabled people over an extended period of time. The awardees from this category are

1. Dr. Jasmer Singh Saini, Professor and Head of Information Management and Coordination Department at NITTTR, Chandigarh
2. Pankajam Sridevi, Managing Director of ANZ Bengaluru Hub
3. Prof. Sanjeev Sonawane, the Head of Education and Extension Department at the Savitribai Phule, Pune University.

​​Role model companies:
Role Model Companies who have shown their commitment towards promoting equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The awardees are

1. Accenture Services Private Limited
2. Aegis Limited
3. CISCO Systems India Private Limited
4. DELL EMC
5. State Bank of India
6. Synchrony Financial