As it moves to a swanky 2 lakh square kilometre facility in the Knowledge City here, Synchrony Financial, a US-based consumer financial services firm, is planning to increase the number of its employees with disabilities by about 50 per cent.

The new facility, opened on Friday in the presence of US Consul-General (Hyderabad) Katherine B Hadda, can house about 3,600 employees.

The firm, which has about 93 such people working for it now, is planning to take the number up to 125-150 by the year-end. The facility is well-equipped to take care of their needs.

“We aim to hire people with disabilities one day every month, whereas 80-90 vie for some positions. We select 6-10 from that pool,” Mir Faisal Uddin, Senior Vice-President and Business Leader of Synchrony Financial, formerly known as GE Global Servicing, told BusinessLine .

“More than hiring, it is important to keep them on board. It is not just about hiring; it is important to retain them and ensure they feel comfortable,” he said.

“We have a strategy for them. We have decided to grow them in the organisation as well. We are going to promote at least two people a year to higher positions in the organisation,” he said.

The firm says that about 43 per cent of its employees are women. “This is far above the industry average.”

Synchrony Financial, a leader in private-label credit cards, has no plans to tap the Indian market as yet. “There are two reasons. One, there’s no scale in India for our product. You need to have large retail chains for that. Second, we see a tremendous opportunity for our business in North America. We will focus on that market,” Uddin said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW