Silver Tsunami

Last evening I had a very interesting discussion with the CEO of an Indian IT company, in the context of APEX Program. Apart from the program, we conversed on a wide range of topics, cloud computing, autonomic computing, future of IT, future of Indian IT industry etc and then inevitably the conversation turned towards CSR and I was delighted to hear from him that he was instrumental in driving the hiring of people with disabilities to over 1% of the total workplace.

While the 1% looks small, but given the large workpool that Indian IT companies have, it translates to quite a big number.

I came back happy, getting to know a leader who really cared about the society and translated that care and empathy into action.

Today, the 800-CEO-Read blog had a post about a new book titled Dive In. This is what 800-CEO-Read had to say. BTW I really really envy the guys at 800-CEO-Read....they get to read the latest books. Not sure if this a viable business model out here in India.

Fifty-four million American adults live with a disability. Add to that tens of millions of parents of children with special needs and mature workers with age related disabilities and the number grows.

Why are these numbers important to your company, agency, organization, or school? Because these people make up the special needs workforce a group of talented employees that you cannot afford to overlook. Unlike many books about employing the disabled, Nadine Vogel includes in the special needs workforce parents of children with special needs and workers with age-related disabilities.

In this book she presents the business case for hiring and supporting this untapped and under-used workforce. She demonstrates the value of inclusion with statistics, anecdotal evidence, and examples from the world's most successful companies.

Vogel not only encourages employers to consider this under-used group, but also presents concrete how-to information and best practices from in-the-know corporations. In Dive In, she maps out a plan for inclusion that can increase your company's productivity, elevate your status with your customers, and position your company as an employer of choice.