Arvato Group | Yaroslavl, 02/09/2017

Successful Inclusion in Yaroslavl

Nataliya Sachkova, Maria Rabotyagina, Elena Tikhonova (Deputy HR Director at Arvato Yaroslavl), Evgeniya Shukhtarova and Nikolai Kolosov (from left)

Subject: Employees
Country: Russia
Category: Prizes & Awards

Arvato Russia has won an award for its efforts and achievements in integrating people with disabilities. In the "For Equal Opportunity" contest, in which 39 companies from the region north of Moscow competed, Arvato came second in the "Companies of any business activity or legal form" category. The competition is designed to encourage employers to hire people with disabilities, to create additional jobs for them, and to improve the workplace and overall conditions. Thanks to its good performance, Arvato will now receive a grant from public funds in order to further facilitate the day to day routine for employees with disabilities.

Arvato Russia has already achieved some success in this area. The Arvato site in Yaroslavl currently employs six disabled people and thus fulfills the three-percent quota required by Russian law. These employees work in various fields. For example, Maria Rabotyagina and Evgeniya Shukhtarova have jobs in the bookbindery and Nikolai Kolosov is employed as maintenance worker. They are fully integrated in the work processes and work closely with the other members of their teams.

Unlimited support

They receive the full and unlimited support of their colleagues as needed. "The other employees give them a lot of attention and make appropriate allowances if necessary, for example, by explaining things slowly and intelligibly to colleagues with impaired hearing," says Elena Egorova, HR Director of the Arvato Yaroslavl site. On United Nations’ "International Day of People with Disabilities", which is held every year on 3 December, the employees receive a financial bonus.

"A core value at Bertelsmann and Arvato is to treat all employees equally, granting them the same rights and opportunities," says Arvato Yaroslavl CEO Gert Przystaw. "We don’t give any space to discrimination. The diversity of our employees makes us strong, and we are pleased that we can integrate people with disabilities so well into our work processes here in Yaroslavl."