The Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank spoke about how they began their journey towards creating barrier-free banking, about communication and services for people with disabilities, and why every business should now include an inclusion clause in its development strategy.
According to Oschadbank, approximately 29 million people currently live in Ukraine, of which more than 3 million have various physical, sensory and mental disabilities. And due to the fact that there is a full-scale war in the country, this figure is increasing every day. Therefore, every business in the country must ensure that all customers have the same terms of service and service. This topic was raised during the VII International specialized exhibition of the retail and commercial real estate industry RAU EXPO 2024 , held in the capital on June 12-13. Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank Anton Tyutyun spoke on the topic “My barrier-free”. RAU has selected the main points from the speech.
On the first steps towards inclusion and barrier-freeness
The topic of barrier-freeness is new territory, and not all businesses know how to work with it. It is not enough to adjust branches or stores to the requirements of state building codes (GSN), it is necessary to determine the needs of people with disabilities. That is why Oschadbank conducted research, looked at the experience of Western countries, how they emerged from wars and what they did on the topic of barrier-freeness, talked with clients, conducted focus interviews with market experts who have been working on this topic for decades, and also turned to public organizations for experience organizations such as “Bezbarernist”, “Vidchuy” and others.
And after all the analytical work, at the level of the supervisory board, they approved an extensive program called “My Barrier-free”. It includes three components: physical, communication and service.
When Oschadbank studied the requests of people with disabilities, they realized that such clients do not want a separate service line or special services, they want one thing – the same service as other clients.
About inclusive departments
In 2014, Oschadbank opened the first inclusive branch in the capital near the Palace of Ukraine. A blind person, using tactile markers, walked from the metro to the branch himself, and then, using headphones, independently withdrew money from an ATM. Then we finally realized that we would continue to develop this direction.
By the way, Oschadbank, together with prosthetic military man Alexander Teren , implemented a project where he, together with famous personalities, travels around the country and in a humorous manner audits businesses for inclusivity. The goal is to show how our country is unprepared to serve clients with disabilities. Therefore, every city and every business should do everything so that a guy like Alexander can receive the same service and services as other people.
And now Oschadbank has 23 super-inclusive branches, where, in addition to the requirements of the State Tax Service, there are low cash registers, holders for crutches, buttons for calling managers, etc. However, there are departments that are located in very old buildings and it is not physically possible to make ramps there.
There are also inclusive ATMs where a blind person can withdraw money on their own.
How people with disabilities choose a company or establishment
To get into a bank, hairdresser or store, a person with a disability at home looks for photos of the location to understand whether he can get there. Counts the steps and steps that must be taken to get there.
When Oschadbank found out about this, they began to communicate with the LUN platform – a catalog of residential complexes – and posted photos of all inclusive branches on their website. There are also photos on Google maps.
About communication and service
The main thing for business on the path to barrier-free is communication and service. Oschadbank has many products for veterans and people with disabilities, in particular, these are loans, and there is a government program called Oselya, when a military person or a person with a disability can get a loan for housing at 3 or 7%. And, by the way, this rate is lower than in the USA for mortgages.
However, there can be any banking products, but the key is trained personnel.
Oschadbank has 14 certified trainers who have been trained in the most famous public organizations and understand the topic of barrier-freeness. Also, 800 employees have already been trained offline in two days on how to communicate with people with disabilities, how to look at them correctly. And about 8,000 workers completed online training.
The network is as prepared as possible and there are barrier-free experts in almost every branch.
About digital accessibility
Another important thing is digital accessibility. Oschadbank has many ways to obtain banking services online, but the most important thing is to know your client. Therefore, we are now working on labeling each client. To avoid situations where the bank sends an SMS to a person who cannot see, the call center calls a client who cannot hear. Now Oschadbank has 7 million active clients, so we are working on a personalized approach.
And the task that they have set for themselves is to make society equal. And barrier-freeness is not about creating separate places or service models for people with disabilities, it is about ensuring that such a client has all the same conditions as others.
We are confident that a business that does not now include barrier-freeness in its strategy is calling into question its existence in the future.
About social projects not related to banking activities
Oschadbank invests a lot in social projects. For example, together with the Visa company we create rehabilitation houses in small towns of the country, where military personnel have the opportunity to receive rehabilitation: both medical and psychological. The first rehabilitation house was opened in the city of Ovruch, and next in line are Khotyn and Kiev region.
