Addressing Employability and Inclusion for Persons
with Disabilities: A for-profit Company working
within the Brazilian National Quota System
An Overview and Analysis of the Serasa Experian
Employability Program for Persons with
Disabilities (EPPD) in São Paulo
Research Goals: Determine the strategies and impact of the EPPD and
ultimately determine the desirability and potential for the program to be
replicated in other companies.
Kali Stull
Disability and Work: Strategies for Equity
May 5, 2012
McGill University
Methodology
• Primarily qualitative
• Data Sources:
-52 semi-structured interviews with diverse participants
∆ employees with and without disabilities
∆ partner companies
∆ government officials
∆ NGOs and advocates for disability rights in São Paulo
-Direct and participant observation of meetings and trainings
- Program documentation
- Literature and legislation
• Social model of disability analytical framework
2
Brazil’s National Quota Legislation
• Article 93 of law 8.213 passed in 1991 requires that
persons with disabilities account for 2-5% of the
workforce for any company with over 100 employees.
• Companies fined for non-compliance
% Employees with
Disabilities Required
Number of Company Employees
2%
101-200
3%
201-500
4%
501-1000
5%
1000+
(Serasa Experian falls here,
with 2.600 employees)
3
Employability Program for Persons with
Disability Overview
• Part of Serasa Experian, a for-profit company
• Created in 2011
• Designed to increase number and inclusion of employees
with disabilities in the workforce
• Driving methodology:
– Two-way street
– Quality over quantity
– Employing people with disabilities as investment rather
than cost
4
Serasa Experian and the Employability
Program for Persons with Disabilities (EPPD)
• Serasa Experian - a
profitable information
technology company
• Motivations to implement
EPPD:
– To avoid potential fines
for quota noncompliance
– To be ‘socially
responsible’
– To improve reputation
5
Employability Program for Persons with
Disabilities (EPPD) Strategies and
Components
• Physically accessible main office building
– Certified universally accessible
• Structurally accessible company
– E.g. provide sign language translation, restructure tasks, alter format
• Qualify people with disabilities for work (training program)
• Form partnerships and share knowledge
6
Training Program
• Created to address inequality
of education for people with
disabilities
• Goal to prepare participants
for employment (particularly
people with more ‘severe’
disabilities
• Two training programs per year
• 4 month long program
• ~ 30 participants/program
• Graduated participants
guaranteed work in partner companies
• Over 250 graduates
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Knowledge Sharing
• EPPD as benchmark effort to employ people with disabilities
• Diverse partnerships with:
- companies (30 partner companies)
∆
Sensitization training offered to address prejudices
- government (municipal and federal)
- NGOs
• Knowledge sharing with public
- Tri-annual Forum for People with Disabilities
- Publicity in media
- Publications
8
Impact of the EPPD
• Serasa Experian employs 83 people with disabilities *
– 3.2 % of the Serasa workforce (1.8% below the quota)
– 23 hearing impaired
– 19 visual impaired
– 40 with a physical disability
– 1 with a cognitive disability
– 38 men, 45 men
• Majority of employees with disabilities stay at company > 3 years
• Average income of employees with disabilities:
49% > average income for people with disabilities in Brazil
47% < average income at Serasa Experian
*As of August 2011, number has ranged from 80 to 93 since 2001
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Impact of the EPPD
• Equality, Inclusion and Respect
• Independence
– “It's really important, I think that having a job and being inserted in
the job market is what gives you the biggest equality in a social
world, so it's been really important. The professional insertions
creates a big cycle of things because when you get money, you
spend money, you start traveling, you start going places, so the
conquer of a job, it allows you to have other achievements.”
– “My father used to be the only money and now it's not the case
anymore. So, I can feel responsible, I can feel, I could decide
things in my life.” - Employee with visual disability
Self-esteem
– “It's important…not only professionally but also personally to have
something, that will work with your self-esteem, making you feel
better with yourself.” –Employee with physical disability
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Impact of the EPPD
• Confronting Prejudices
– “I think Serasa is doing a really big role to break the paradigms…it
opens the head of people to realize that many barriers are in our
heads.” - Employee at Serasa
– “It made the team much more humane in this aspect and it taught us
how to deal with a person with down syndrome, not only in the job
environment, but in life, society.”
- Employee at Serasa
• Positive Effect on Partner Companies
– Continued support
– Well-prepared employees
– Increase diversity of employees with disabilities
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Challenges and Limitations
• Difficulty securing promotions
• Lack of leadership opportunities
– Only 3 of the 83 employees with disabilities hold leadership
positions.
• Individual prejudice
• Lack of leadership support
• Lack of professional fulfillment at entry level positions
• São Paulan culture:
– Discrimination and patronizing of people with disabilities
– Poverty
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Essential Elements
• Large budget
• Support from upper management
• Strong program leadership
– experienced, well-connected, knowledgeable
• Specific program department and point person(s)
• Culture of ‘social responsibility’, people-oriented company
• Strong, clear methodology of program
• (Quota legislation/fine as additional financial incentive)
13
A
B
E
A: Blind employee and
guide dog
B: EPPD founder and
leader, Mr. Ribas
C: Braille printer
D: Serasa’s knowledge
center
E: Libras, Brazilian sign
language
C
D
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