Building Community, Celebrating Diversity!
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn” – is a renowned quote by Benjamin Franklin. Yes, Diversity and inclusion are the two veritable buzzwords in recent years, and with good reason! However, Vinyas recognized the importance of diversity and inclusivity way back in 2007 when the very concept was not looked at yet. Implementation of this initiative was the brainchild of Mr. Narendra Narayanan, MD and Founder of Vinyas Innovative Technologies.
When asked about the thoughts behind initiating inclusivity at Vinyas, Mr. Narendra opines “I always believed that diversity attracts diversity and this belief became strong as I was inspired by my father Dr. Narayanan, and my wife Ms. Meera Narendra. My father being a psychiatrist, and my wife being a teacher at a differently abled school, made me clearly understand the strength and necessity of establishing an inclusive work culture by adopting a diverse slate approach. At Vinyas, we want all our people to be their authentic selves with shared values and opportunities that will challenge them. Banking on our experience for the past 16 years, we aspire to strengthen D&I culture that empowers our people from different backgrounds and provides them with the environment to be the finest they possibly can be.”
On the 27th of May 2007, a group of seven special team members entered the doors of Vinyas and since then, there is no looking back. Every year one such employee is being onboarded and trained with the intention to make them independent and emotionally strong.
Mr. Raghavendra Madhyastha, who joined the Vinyas family as a mentor to the special team says, “I am privileged to be holding the mentor’s position, and with it comes a lot of responsibility and patience. The early days were challenging and we had to face many problems related to their behavioral etiquette and emotional outbreaks. With years of consistent training and monitoring, the team is now gelled well with their co-workers and has learned to manage themselves.
The special group at Vinyas is a mix of autism, mental retardation, hearing impairment as well as physical and learning disabilities but on the other hand, they are also blessed with special skills like super memory of numbers and names, identifying days for a given date and above all efficiency in doing a repetitive job and a strong discipline to follow Taiwan routine which most of us find it difficult. They stand as an example to propagate that discipline is the mantra to achieve the impossible and they are strictly abide by their disciplinary schedule. They always remind us to embrace individuality, accept the differences, and yet be happy always.”
Challenges faced and solutions discovered in the journey
It was at the top of our minds to foster a safe environment that welcomes and uplifts voices from all walks of life, but we knew that there is no silver bullet for solving the diversity challenge. By addressing the challenges, we hoped to help our people grow professionally, personally as well as socially. We figured that focusing on solutions was rather important than on failures. Instead of documenting the problems that abound, we asked everyone to focus on answering one simple question: What works? Here is what we found out.
Challenge 1: Anger management
Solution discovered: In the initial days when the team was new to our office environment, work process, and the people around them, any kind of disturbance, unsafe feeling, or irritation would result in anger and in turn lead to physical violence. Managing the unexpected emotional outbreak was the greatest challenge for us, but we tackled it by being patient and listening to them on what they had to say. Not pressurizing, not ordering, and diverting their minds to something nice helps to calm them down. Besides training is provided to the supervisors to manage and handle the team softly with love and care.
Challenge 2: Perseverance during work hours
Solution discovered: Being in a place and working for 8 long hours seemed impossible for the team in their early days. Hence, we started with 1 hour of work and gradually increased it to 8 hours. Getting them mentally prepared for work or for any event well in advance, is the mantra to have their attention. Their distinct proficiency in successfully doing a repetitive job is worth mentioning here.
Challenge 3: Independently using washrooms in the workplace
Solution discovered: Continuous training, monitoring and telling them repetitively on how to use the washrooms and how to keep them clean has now turned into a habit for the special team. We are now happy to see them becoming independent and doing their basic daily activities without the need for an escort.
Challenge 4: Communication with the hearing impaired
Solution discovered: Every year we onboard 10 ITI trained hearing impaired employees and provide them with on-job training. Supported by their high cognitive language capacity, more than 40 employees are effectively working in all the departments, starting from forming to quality assurance.
Final Thoughts
There is no single solution to the diversity challenges. Yet, pushing ourselves to think outside the box and drawing on the best solution was the key to our success. The contribution of our selfless supervisors, encouraging employees, and visionary management acted as remarkable engines of change. Special mention to our production team Ms. Sarojamma, Ms. Manjula, Ms. Bharthi, and Ms. Leelavathi P for their patience, love, and care in training, guiding, and mentoring the special team at Vinyas during their preliminary days as well as applause to the whole Vinyas family for accepting, supporting and aiding them to feel safe and comfortable with us!
We learned by doing, and now we’re ready to take on more.