DUBAI // When Santhosh Unni took over as chief executive for Tim Hortons in the GCC, one of his personal mandates was to employ more people with special needs.
When he was based in India, Mr Unni worked with agencies and special needs advocates to recruit workers who were deaf or mute to work at one of his company’s stores.
“It was something I wanted to continue here in the Middle East,” said Mr Unni.
One year later, nine deaf and mute employees have been recruited from the Philippines and India to work at the Jumeirah Centre Tim Hortons.
Employees normally receive about 21 days of training in the UAE but Mr Unni said the special needs workers were given two months.
“We had someone who knows sign language from the Philippines come along with them, stay here for a month and get them acclimatised to their new surroundings,” said Mr Unni.
The two cashiers who work with the special needs workers have also received basic sign language training to communicate with their colleagues.
The special needs employees work the same hours and are paid the same as other Tim Hortons employees, said Mr Unni.
“There’s really no difference between them and people who can hear and speak,” he said.
“They do every single thing any other crew member does.
“We typically work in terms of stations, so there’s somebody in charge of the sandwich station, somebody in charge of baking, somebody in charge of coffee-making, some baristas, a soup station, they do every single job that any other employee of Tim Hortons does in a store.”
Mr Unni said he wants to expand the number of special needs employees in his UAE stores, though it will be something that is done over time.
“I don’t think that this initiative is something that can be quickly replicated overnight,” he said.
“I think the problem is not the specially abled people, it’s the rest of the staff because you need to also teach them sign language and how to interact with using sign language,” said Mr Unni.
Nazem Fawzi, adviser in the field of disability at the Ministry of Social Affairs, commended the effort by Tim Hortons to recruit more workers with special needs.
“Given the opportunity, people with special needs excel in the workplace the same as anyone else,” said Mr Fawzi.
“They just need to be given that chance.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
