Inditex aiming to double number of disabled employees in two years

Inditex, the owner of Zara, Bershka and Pull&Bear, has announced a new goal to significantly increase the number of employees with disabilities worldwide within two years.

The group’s endorsement of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network was signed by its CEO Oscar García Maceiras during a meeting with the director-general of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Gilbert Houngbo.

The commitment implies the company will hire over 1,500 professionals to work across its stores, logistics platforms, warehouses and officers, doubling the number of employees with some form of disability.

Inditex stated that it is further aiming to consistently outperform the disabled employee thresholds required in the jurisdictions it operates in, while in markets that have no specific requirements it is looking for at least two percent of its local headcounts to be of differing abilities.

In a statement, García Maceiras said that “disability inclusion in the workplace is a core component of our commitment to people”, adding that diversity, fairness and inclusion were values the company embraced and pursued day-to-day.

Together with ILO, Inditex will be working on creating inclusive workplaces that aim to provide people with disabilities equal opportunities for career development through various initiatives.

It comes as part of the group’s inclusion strategy, developed around four areas of priority: championing inclusive recruiting and career development, fostering accessible workplaces conducive to ensuring equal opportunities, facilitating an inclusive shopping experience, and raising team awareness about disability.