Burger King Indonesia’s open letter social initiative gives a voice to the silent

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Burger King Indonesia’s open letter social initiative gives a voice to the silent

Building on the momentum of successfully uniting F&B retail chains in Indonesia amidst the pandemic, Burger King Indonesia launched #SunyiBersuara, the “Voice of The Silent”, a social movement for inclusivity and equal opportunities in the workforce, especially for the deaf and mute community.

 

Burger King Indonesia has already employed 100+ crew members with hearing and speech disabilities, across stores in Bali, Makassar, and Jakarta.

Frida Marpaung, Head of HR & CSR at Burger King Indonesia, said: “We started the hiring process towards the end of 2018 – it required us to build employment and training procedures from scratch, and we’ve learned a lot along the way. We understand that businesses may have several considerations before taking on this journey, as was the case with us initially”

“As we hired more crew members with disabilities in our restaurants, we realised it was us who was missing out on such amazing talent all this while” adds Vaibhav Punj CEO of Burger King Indonesia. “In a guest satisfaction survey, we found that our special stores performed significantly better. Our intention of reaching out to companies with an Open Letter and publishing a Tool-Kit is to get them started on their special journey”.

#SunyiBersuara tool-kit provides a clear guidance on hiring people with disabilities, by focusing on four key steps – education on different types of disabilities, understanding the needs of your organization, reaching out to selected parties who can help with hiring and training, contacts for NGOs supporting disabled people and stakeholders. The tool-kit is available on Sunyi Bersuara website. To further encourage companies, Burger King has published a video showing how their special crew’s day is no different from anyone else’s.

The initiative for companies and individuals to be the voice of the silent (#SunyiBersuara) is strategically launched in tandem with ILO’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3rd as Burger King is a key member of ILO’s International Businesses Disability Network (IBDN).

“Building a better future and inclusive society depends on our actions today. Indonesia business and disability network are a group of like-minded companies that promote the employment of workers with disabilities,” says Kazutoshi Chatani Employment specialist at ILO, Jakarta.

As a response to this movement, companies have started changing their logos to sign-language across their brand assets!

Vaibhav Punj adds: “As we transition to a new normal, we’re looking to make the hiring of persons with disabilities in the workforce a habit and we’re seeking the support of our F&B partners across Indonesia so that together we can make a big impact.”

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Burger King Indonesia’s open letter social initiative gives a voice to the silent Burger King Indonesia’s open letter social initiative gives a voice to the silent Burger King Indonesia’s open letter social initiative gives a voice to the silent