The FINANCIAL -- Nestlé
has been recognised for an innovative scheme that has helped it recruit
more disabled employees while increasing productivity at its call
centre in Mexico.
According to Nestlé, the company received an award from ‘Fundación ParaLife’ for its ‘Awareness and Occupational Inclusion Programme’, designed to foster greater diversity and team spirit in the workplace.
The programme, implemented between 2010 and 2011, saw Nestlé work with Fundación ParaLife to become the largest single employer of people with disabilities in Mexico over a one-year period.
Today, one fifth of the company’s employees at its call centre have some form of disability. The majority have been hired through the programme.
The centre, which deals with more than 230,000 consumer enquiries a year, has significantly improved its performance since the programme began.
Customer satisfaction rates have risen to 94%, while staff turnover rates have been reduced by half.
“The Awareness and Occupational Inclusion Programme is very important to our business,” said Juan Carlos Marroquin Cuesta, Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé Mexico, at the award ceremony.
“It has helped raise the whole team’s awareness of how valuable it is for everyone to have the opportunity to do a job where, with effort and dedication, they can give their best.
“We’ve been able to attract and maintain talented employees, while helping them further develop their professional and personal abilities.” he added.Braille engraving
Mr Marroquin was joined at the ceremony by Mexican government officials and executives from Nestlé and Fundación ParaLife. Members of the company’s call centre team and other guests were also present.
The award, engraved in Braille, was presented to one of Nestlé’s visually-impaired employees.
According to Mexico’s National General Population and Housing Census for 2010, people with disabilities represented just over 5% of the country’s total population.
Nestlé Mexico is committed to promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities in working life through programmes that offer them long-term benefits.
These efforts are part of what Nestlé calls ‘Creating Shared Value’, an approach to business that aims to create value for the company’s shareholders at the same time as for those communities where it operates.
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