Thailand’s workforce is changing.
Across Asia, businesses are facing profound shifts in how they attract talent, retain employees, respond to demographic change and build resilience in uncertain economic conditions. Thailand is no exception. Employers are navigating skills gaps, changing workforce expectations and increasing pressure to demonstrate meaningful commitments to environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities.
Against this backdrop, the inclusion of persons with disabilities and neurodivergent people can no longer be viewed as a separate social initiative or a narrowly defined human resources programme. It is increasingly a strategic business issue, directly related to competitiveness, innovation, workforce participation and sustainable economic growth.
This was a key message from the Thailand Business and Disability Network (TBDN)’s recent event on Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which brought together businesses and international experts to explore how organisations can move beyond compliance and turn inclusion into practical action.
Moving from compliance to confidence
As Thailand’s national business and disability network under the framework of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Global Business and Disability Network, TBDN brings together employers, business leaders and inclusion champions to share knowledge and develop practical approaches to disability confidence.
TBDN’s value is in creating a space where businesses can learn from one another, share experiences, connect to explore partnerships and discuss the opportunities and barriers they face when building more inclusive workplaces.
The event highlighted an important shift in the way businesses are approaching inclusion.
Disability confidence is a leadership priority that connects operations, strategy and growth.
For businesses, this means looking beyond policies and compliance measures to consider how inclusion affects the wider organisation: how people are recruited and developed, how workplaces are designed, how employees experience their working environment and whether people have genuine opportunities to contribute and progress.
The business case is clear. When organisations remove barriers, they can access a wider pool of talent, strengthen employee engagement and create conditions that support innovation and resilience.
The power of learning from one another
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are one practical example of how organisations can turn inclusion into action.
ERGs create spaces where employees share their experiences, identify barriers and contribute to conversations about workplace culture, accessibility and employee experience. When they are supported by leadership and connected to wider business priorities, they can also help organisations understand where policies and practices may need to change.
The experiences shared by TBDN members demonstrated how this can work in practice.
At IHG Hotels & Resorts Thailand, an inclusive employment pilot across five Bangkok properties combined employee surveys, focus groups, accessibility audits, policy reviews and training on neurodiversity and disability inclusion. The programme helped strengthen disability confidence among employees and managers, while creating new training and employment opportunities for neurodivergent people.
At PCS Thailand, disability confidence is being used as a framework to support an ageing workforce and retain experienced employees. The organisation is exploring how suitable roles can be developed for engaged employees, regardless of their demographics or individual needs, helping people to continue working for as long as they are able and willing.
These examples show that there is no single model for inclusion. Businesses may be at different stages in their journey and can take different approaches. Separate departments may oversee inclusion within recruitment, engagement, Corporate Social Responsibility or Environmental, Social and Governance work. Each TBDN member has joined the network from a different starting point.
What they share is a leadership vision to leverage disability confidence as a strategic approach that unifies commitments, streamlines investments and deepens impact across the entire value chain of the business. What matters most is the willingness to learn, test new ideas and adapt solutions to the needs of employees and stakeholders in the Thai context.
Inclusion is intersectional
The conversation also highlighted why disability cannot be considered in isolation from other aspects of a person’s identity and experience.
Deepa Bharathi, Senior Specialist at the ILO, emphasised the intersectional nature of disability and neurodivergence. People can experience multiple, overlapping barriers based on disability, gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic background or other aspects of identity.
These barriers can be particularly significant for women with disabilities and neurodivergent women, who may face challenges that are not fully addressed by approaches focused on disability or gender alone. An effective inclusion strategy needs to look at the whole person and the different barriers they may encounter throughout their working lives.
It also points to an important opportunity for business.
If organisations design workplaces and systems around the needs of people who face the greatest barriers to participation, the benefits can extend far beyond those individuals. More accessible communication can support everyone. Flexible working practices can help employees at different stages of life. Clearer processes and better workplace design can improve the experience of the whole workforce.
In other words, removing barriers for the most marginalised groups can create some of the most significant advantages for businesses. IHG found that 74% of all employees appreciated the need for inclusive communication after the pilot programme and reported that simple measures learned through disability confidence, such as posting back-of-house signs, improved onboarding outcomes and engagement for all employees. PCS is using its approach to designing roles around abilities to maintain its status as one of Thailand’s largest employers and sustain its workforce of 30,000 people.
Inclusion does not mean creating separate systems for every group or providing individual accommodations at the expense of others. It means designing better systems that work for everyone, including businesses.
From awareness to action
Thailand has an important opportunity to lead in this space.
The country’s changing demographics and workforce needs mean that businesses will need to think differently about how they attract, retain and develop talent. At the same time, the growth of the disability and neurodivergent assistive products market shows that inclusion is also creating new opportunities for innovation and business development. Thailand’s assistive and inclusive products market is estimated at THB 12.2 billion and is projected to grow significantly by 2030.
For businesses, the opportunity is to move from a compliance-driven approach towards one that sees inclusion as part of long-term business strategy.
That means asking practical questions:
- Are recruitment processes accessible to a wide range of candidates?
- Are managers confident in providing reasonable accommodation?
- Do employees have safe and meaningful ways to share their experiences?
- Are workplaces and digital systems designed with different access needs in mind?
- Are Employee Resource Groups connected to decision-making and organisational change?
- And, importantly, are businesses listening to the people who experience the greatest barriers?
The answers will be different for every business and each organisation will choose different priorities as it builds disability confidence into strategy. Now, they have a network of peers to support them.
TBDN provides a network for businesses in Thailand to connect, share practical experiences and learn from international expertise. Working alongside the ILO and other partners, the network helps businesses understand global approaches while asking how they can be adapted to the Thai context.
Building a stronger workforce together
Inclusion is not simply about increasing representation. It is about creating the conditions for people to participate, contribute and grow.
For Thailand’s businesses, this is both an opportunity and a necessity.
By removing barriers, listening to employees and learning from one another, businesses can build workplaces that are more inclusive, resilient and innovative. They can also strengthen their ability to attract and retain talent at a time when workforce participation and skills are becoming increasingly important to economic growth.
The TBDN ERG event demonstrated what is possible when businesses come together to share practical experience and learn from one another.
The next step is to keep the conversation going and turn that learning into action.
Thailand’s workforce has enormous potential. The businesses that create the conditions for more people to participate will build competitive advantage as they become disability confident.