Do business and social commitment go together well?

No, I am not overly trustful in the goodness of man; recently, as a matter of fact, I was a little worried because of late my editorials showed a pessimistic tilt, which reflected my day-to-day experience of business. Then, suddenly, I found myself faced with two situations that had positive connotations; so it comes that, like in the last issue, this week, too, I have the opportunity to speak about a positive experience.
A few days ago I talked with Paola Iemmallo, the extraordinary Human Resources Manager of the Milan Hilton, about the law regulating the mandatory employment of disabled people. When this topic is raised, I am used to expressions of discontent on the part of business managers, who perceive this obligation as one of the many constraints and snares that condition their companies.
The law no. 68 of 1999 has substantially modified the legal provisions in this matter, and for companies with over 50 employees (this is the case of Hilton), it established that mandatory employment should cover 7% of the personnel (previously 15%). Now Paola Iemallo, whose vision is shared by the General Manager Dennis Zambon, has succeeded in transforming this obligation into an opportunity. How? In collaboration with ANFFAS (the national association for the families of intellectually and relationally disabled people), she studied the functions within the company that are repetitive and can be profitably performed by intellectually and relationally disabled people, achieving a good level of satisfaction for the people concerned, their families and the company, to the point of increasing the time of employment to over the 21 hours a week that constitute the threshold level for the disabled person.
Paola rightly says that, in order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to carefully analyse the job functions (usually in the back office) and the applicant’s aptitudes and psychology, but once the function has been identified, the disabled person will invest such effort as to be perfectly successful in his/her job. Paola adds that it is also worth considering the significant tax reliefs achievable by this type of employment.
This is not a novel. It is the clever policy of a company which does not believe business should necessarily be in contrast with social commitment.