Sanket Atal, SVP & Managing Director- Sites, Salesforce India shared his thoughts with Rusen Kumar, India CSR on how Salesforce is empowering specially-abled people to build an inclusive society and make a positive impact. Salesforce India has partnered with GiftAbled to drive the “Salesforce Developer Catalyst Programme” for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). Over 100 PWD trainees will be provided 2 months of learning how to build a career as a Salesforce Developer. This program will equip participants with in-demand digital skills to be job-ready for employment in the new economy. Excerpts of an interview:
How is GiftAbled creating an ecosystem of like-minded individuals and building an inclusive society?
GiftAbled was founded in 2013 by Prarthana Kaul and Prateek Kaul to empower people with disabilities in various fields throughout India. With this purpose in mind, they began offering various workshops for people with disabilities, one of which was sign language instruction. Very early in their vocation, the organisation realised that people with disabilities living in rural areas lacked access to quality education and employment possibilities. This further pushed the team to conduct sessions in schools, corporates and other spaces to create awareness about the specially-abled and disabilities in India.
GiftAbled creates employment for specially-abled people by opening an inclusive gift store through which they’re able to sell their artwork and handicrafts. This initiative has allowed them to earn a decent income while also continuing to train and up-skill themselves.
The team at GiftAbled also hosts sessions across India to teach specially-abled individuals life skills and workshops on making handicraft items such as fridge magnets, toys, basket weaving, and bags. Thousands of people have attended these sessions, with some going on to create their home-based enterprises. As of today, GiftAbled has successfully placed over 500 specially-abled people in various companies, in addition to raising awareness among the general public to dispel the myth and stigma associated with disability.
Elaborate on Salesforce’s partnership with GiftAbled.
According to a report by Unearthinsight, India has over 3 crore people with disabilities (PwD), of which around 1.3 crores are employable, but only 34 lakh have been employed in the organised sector, unorganised sector, government-led programmes, or are self-employed. Most companies still need to implement a comprehensive plan for recruiting, promoting and retaining disabled employees.
At Salesforce, we believe that building an inclusive workplace is an important step toward achieving our larger purpose of driving Equality for All. In February 2022, we partnered with GiftAbled in India to launch the “Salesforce Developer Catalyst Programme” for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). This initiative emerged from our shared vision to make a more inclusive society and make a positive difference. The 100+ PWD trainees accepted into this virtual programme will be spending two months learning how to become a Salesforce Developer. This is a blended learning solution designed to provide participants with in-demand digital skills for them to be job-ready in the new economy.
How will the “Salesforce Developer Catalyst Programme” empower the specially-abled?
In India, one of the most important aspects of job creation is skill development. The abilities needed to do a job are ever-evolving. Job descriptions rarely remain unchanged throughout time, whether due to increased automation or market shifts. Eliminating skill gaps is an ongoing process, and as technology and automation become more fully integrated, new gaps will emerge.
The Salesforce Developer Catalyst Program initiative helps Specially-abled people get a head-start in the Salesforce world. The program provides the trainees with in-demand digital skills and helps them accelerate their careers with Salesforce. It includes skills such as:
● Self-paced Trailhead content
● Live instruction with a Salesforce Certified Instructor
● Soft skills training in communication and presentation skills
● Business skills including resume-writing and interview techniques
After completion of the training, these graduates will be able to secure positions within the Salesforce ecosystem of partners and customers through job fairs. Through this initiative, Salesforce aims to empower specially-abled individuals to contribute and influence every level of the workplace.
How is Salesforce empowering specially-abled people with in-demand digital skills?
Specially-abled individuals should be able to see themselves in every industry and at every level from frontline workers to board members and Salesforce has been at the forefront of these efforts.
At Salesforce, we are dedicated to making the workplace more accessible, from closing the accessibility gap to championing the voices of employees with disabilities. We have been enabling and empowering people to flourish in their careers by providing skills such as self-paced Trailhead content, live instruction with a Salesforce Certified Instructor, soft skills training in communication and presentation skills, and business skills such as resume-writing and interview techniques.
Over the past year, Salesforce has established relationships with a wide range of nonprofits, agencies, and resource hubs to help close the employment gap for people with disabilities, GiftAbled being one of them. Through this partnership, we launched the “Salesforce Developer Catalyst Programme” to provide in-demand digital skills to 100+ PWD trainees in this virtual programme. Salesforce is aiming to create awareness and help specially-abled people with job opportunities through this initiative.
What is the future roadmap for Salesforce’s skilling initiatives in India?
The most significant possibility we have right now is to train the workforce. Before the pandemic, there was a rising digital skills gap. The importance of digitisation in rebuilding the economy and society, however, has widened the chasm. According to the findings of the Digital Skills Index, India leads the world in digital skills readiness, with 72 percent of Indian respondents actively learning new digital skills right now. Businesses are constantly pivoting their talent strategies to cater to the evolving talent landscape in a work-from-anywhere world. While before the pandemic, the war for talent discussion was a priority in management discussions; today, it has become paramount to success.
Artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, blockchain, and other emerging technologies are evolving at a breakneck pace, altering the type of jobs to be done – and the skills required to execute them. According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of all employees (54 percent) will require major reskilling by 2022, but the problem is likely to be even worse in other places.
To address the growing skills gap in our country, Salesforce has been bullish on collaborating with other industry players. In 2021, we partnered with Manipal Global to launch a skills initiative to build a talent pool of Trailhead certified professionals as the demand for Salesforce-equipped developers and users is growing rapidly. We also partnered with NASSCOM’s FutureSkills Prime Program. This collaboration leveraged Trailhead as part of Salesforce’s OneIndiaTalent Program, which aims to skill 1,00,000 professionals, potential employees, and students in India by 2024.
We also work closely with our customers/partners that aim at skilling. We partnered with Eduvanz, a digital finance company that provides education loans, to deploy Salesforce to provide students easy access to financing options throughout their learning journey. This year we partnered with Stratos, a talent solutions firm, to create a career acceleration platform for IT professionals within the Salesforce ecosystem. This unique collaboration aims to deliver a holistic talent solution catering to the increasing demand for Salesforce-certified developers and architects in India and across the globe.
With these partnerships, we hope to empower learners and educators, regardless of socioeconomic background or disability, to prepare for jobs of the future by providing innovative content, presentations, and training resources.
(India CSR)
