Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Influencers
The DE&I Influencers list honors individuals who are advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations and across the workforce solutions ecosystem at large.
Hetal Parikh
Honoree profile
Rangam President and co-founder Hetal Parikh fondly recalls the diversity of her upbringing in India, a melting pot of diversity. “I’m excited to share my experience of working with a diverse team and mindset in the corporate setting. It adds color and flavor to our lives and value to clients,” she says.
Parikh focuses on disability inclusion in her DE&I work within Rangam. Her introduction to neurodiversity came when her children were growing up. A special needs classroom taught neurodiverse children with paper flash cards, so Parikh helped them build a more high-tech solution. She realized that, as the children became adults, the support they had in school went away, leaving them under- or unemployed.
Meanwhile, Parikh saw a talent shortage in her work life. “Why aren’t these people getting hired?” she recalls asking herself. “The system essentially eliminated them from the process, as it didn’t make it easy for them to show off their talents and skills. I wanted to spread awareness to our corporate partners.” Parikh partnered with the nonprofit organization Autism Speaks and developed a solution with which large enterprises could tap into this pool of talent through a technology platform.
Working with a diverse team and mindset in the corporate setting … adds color and flavor to our lives and value to clients.
“A few companies were the trailblazers, and they had incredible success stories,” Parikh says. Organizations that hired neurodiverse employees learned to provide clear instructions on how to perform tasks and organize themselves for greater productivity and success. Better still, they got the benefit of working with this population. “Neurodiverse people have abilities that typically developing people may not have,” Parikh adds. “Their attention to detail is phenomenal. They think outside the box and may see a different story in the data. They are able to simplify situations, synthesize information, put it in a nutshell and arrive at a solution, playbook or tool to help drive strategic action.”
From there, Rangam broadened its DE&I program to include the disabled community and then underrepresented people in general. Employer partners saw Rangam’s pool of potential employees expand.
“Organizations only benefit from DE&I,” Parikh says. She hopes to continue creating a broader acceptance of how to engage with a workforce that may have differences, taking DE&I from something people accept to a routine part of business practices.