Lemon Tree Hotels is a fast-growing chain of mid-range hotels with 5300 rooms in 31 cities throughout India.
In India, less than three per cent of people with disabilities are employed, compared to approximately 35 per cent in the developed world. A significant proportion of the population are also economically or socially marginalised, and young people from these families are vulnerable to unemployment. Lemon Tree Hotels is tackling this problem by building a socially-inclusive work environment that seeks to employ people of different backgrounds, abilities and ethnicities. By providing specialised training and operational procedures, Lemon Tree Hotels hopes to mainstream ‘Opportunity Deprived Indians’ into meaningful employment. This group includes people with an orthopaedic handicap, Down’s Syndrome, Autism, and visual impairment, as well as those with poor social and economic prospects. In September 2018, 16 per cent of its workforce was classified as opportunity deprived. Lemon Tree Hotels hopes to spread this positive influence by sharing best practice with other businesses.
