Inclusive employment

“I believe that the greatest asset is the human being. That is why social responsibility is a very important commitment for our company. By employing people with disabilities, we can not only make their lives better, but also help reduce social inequalities.”
Viktória Lucenko, CEO

Company:

Auchan Hungary

Implementation Year:

From 2010

Focus Areas:

Employment, Equal opportunities

Program Objective:

As a responsible company, we have always considered it important to promote social responsibility.

Auchan Hungary has been employing people with disabilities since 2010. The initiative was started thanks to the openness and social sensitivity of a store manager and an HR manager, and gradually became a cornerstone of the company’s HR policy.

We believe in inclusive employment, where our employees are given the opportunity to develop and fulfil their potential despite their differences.

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to work in a way that creates value, which is why we provide hundreds of our employees with disabilities with stable and predictable jobs. They are valued and valued members of the Auchan team, which also promotes their social inclusion. In addition employing people with reduced working capacity employment support programme, we continuously create positions tailored to their needs. Through sensitisation and education training, events and mini-campaigns, we help them to integrate into the workplace and foster an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere.

Program Measures and Commitments:

We started our mission in 2010. In practice, the process started when the son of one of our staff members was hearing impaired but wanted to come to work with us. He was our “first swallow”. We then started to build a project for the employment of workers with full disability.

We set up an internal team representing each department of the store and the different levels of staff and management within it. This group started to think about how to accept people with disabilities within the organisation.

First, we looked at which positions within the company were suitable for employing people with disabilities and whether additional investment and development was needed to employ them in these positions. We also looked at work processes and created new statuses specifically for disabled workers. We also organise awareness-raising and educational training, events and campaigns.

We have also involved professional partners in our activities, working regularly with the National Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Kézenfogva and the Salva Vita Foundation, among other NGOs.

We currently have hundreds of staff with disabilities, mainly employed as cashiers, in e-commerce and in administrative jobs.

Program Impact and Results:

Giving jobs to people with disabilities helps them to integrate and reintegrate into society. It also increases tolerance for people with disabilities among our employees and customers. The tax system also supports companies employing people with disabilities. The resulting savings will be used to make improvements that will enable us to employ more people with disabilities.

Our efforts have been rewarded with several awards (CSR Hungary, Érték vagy!).

Keywords:

equal opportunities, inclusive employment, disabled people