Kaufland Romania continues its actions for the professional and social integration of people with disabilities through a partnership with .lumen, a Romanian start-up that proposes state-of-the-art solutions to improve the lives of people with visual impairments. The company joins, for the second year in a row, the initiative launched by the Romanian Diversity Chamber of Commerce.

Kaufland is an employer that supports diversity and equal opportunities, and the partnership with .lumen is part of the A.C.C.E.S. Program -  Hiring Candidates with Special Requirements and Developments - started in 2019, through which the company aims to make Kaufland locations accessible to both its employees and its customers. The .lumen glasses are an assistive technology for people with visual disabilities, giving them greater mobility in everyday life and thus, more independence. The glasses integrate the most advanced technologies that allow the reproduction of the main characteristics of a guide dog, using elements such as artificial intelligence and robotics.

“The partnership with .lumen came from the desire to help Delia, our colleague in the Recruitment department and blind person, to have an independent life. At the same time, we want Kaufland stores to be accessible to the visually impaired as well. That’s why we were thrilled to find out that a team of Romanians is working on the development of this innovative product. We realized from the first discussion that we have a lot in common with the .lumen team - especially the desire to facilitate access for people with disabilities to a better social life.”, said Estera Anghelescu Recruiting & Employer Branding Director, Kaufland Romania.

“Globally, there are 40 million blind people, and their number is constantly growing. Despite technological advances, there is still no scalable solution for their mobility. .lumen creates assistive systems for the visually impaired, using the latest technologies in artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and robotics. But before launching such a product publicly, we have to go through a very extensive testing stage under very complex environments, which we want to turn into accessible ones. That’s why we started working together with Kaufland Romania to build something unthinkable until now: offering blind people the opportunity to enjoy the experience of a large store independently. This road we started is an incredible and challenging one. In order to succeed, we are happy to have partners with us - people and organizations, to join forces with them so that we can achieve our common goals.”, says Cornel Amariei, CEO & Founder .lumen.

Supporting the community has always been an essential component for Kaufland. Working with .lumen is an important step in further developing and refining this assistive solution so that blind people can have access to independence and better integration into the labor market.

At the same time, in the context of the International Day of People with Disabilities and as a sign of solidarity for them, Kaufland responds promptly, for the second year in a row, to the initiative launched by the Romanian Diversity Chamber of Commerce, along with other companies and organizations. Thus, the Kaufland Headquarters in Bucharest will be illuminated in purple on December 2nd and 3rd, starting at 6 pm. Through this initiative, the company wants to show its support for people with disabilities and inform them that Kaufland is open to all who are looking for a job and a team where every skill is appreciated.

In addition, this year Kaufland organized Accessibility Hackathon, the largest social hackathon in Romania, dedicated to people with disabilities which was recently awarded at the PR Award Gala 2021 in the category of Digital PR (Gold), Tech PR & Communication of Innovation (Gold), Employer Branding (Silver) and Website (Diploma of Excellence). The winning solution of the hackathon is the Vocalio mobile app, created to help people with speech and hearing impairments communicate more easily.

Kaufland is one of the largest employers in Romania that has received, for six years in a row, the Top Employer Certification offered by the Top Employers Institute. Over 15,000 Kaufland employees work in the 147 stores, in the headquarters and warehouses from Romania. So far, over 350 people with disabilities have joined the team and are currently enjoying a better social life and the support of a team in which they are appreciated.

All those who are looking for a job can call the phone number +4 021 9132 or apply on cariere.kaufland.ro.

The video presentation of the partnership with .lumen can be watched here.