Today’s rapidly changing corporate landscape is ever-evolving. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have become central themes for businesses worldwide. At the forefront of this transformative wave is Rain Khoo, a visionary DEI consultant and entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to making workplaces more inclusive and equitable.
In an exclusive interview with Changeincontent, Rain shared his inspiring journey, impactful work, and practical insights into building a world where everyone, regardless of their identity, feels valued. From his pioneering work in transgender advocacy to his innovative DEI practices, this conversation is a deep dive into the life of a leader who embodies the values he promotes.
Rain Khoo: A visionary in DEI
Rain Khoo wears many hats. He is the founder of Dignité Brands. He also leads DEI consultancy and training at Saira, a Bangalore-based organisation specialising in placing underrepresented talent, especially persons with disabilities. Over the past two years, Saira has successfully placed 200 individuals from marginalised communities in meaningful employment. Rain’s professional journey spans over two decades, with roles in APAC and global markets across start-ups and enterprises.
Rain is also the co-founder of TransgenderSG, a Singapore-based initiative that advocates for safe and legal transitioning while working to de-stigmatise transgender identities. His commitment to equity and inclusion has seen him speak at global platforms such as TEDx, Google, and General Assembly. At the same time, his expertise in branding and marketing has driven a significant impact for minority-owned businesses.
Rain Khoo and his journey from corporate to advocacy
Rain Khoo’s journey into social entrepreneurship is deeply personal. As a late-transitioned trans man, Rain found his calling during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is when he sought to merge his corporate expertise with his passion for social impact.
Q: What inspired you to transition from a corporate career to founding Dignité Brands? Also, what drives your passion for creating a more equitable and inclusive world?
A: I started in design, which is about improving lives. I was doing branding and design and left my MNC role to broaden into eCommerce and brand business ownership and to have more time for my family. Although we had a strong social focus, over COVID, I found myself wanting to work more directly on social impact without the environmental price tag. A decisive factor was my journey as a late-transitioned trans man. Working with the transgender community made me realise the extent of the social inequalities. Cultural attitudes will not change unless we keep working on it. Dignité is very much a social entrepreneurship.
Rain Khoo’s advice for businesses on DEI journeys
People often view inclusive branding with scepticism, but Rain sees it as an opportunity rather than a challenge. Brands that view inclusivity as a trend rather than a strategy often falter.
Q: What advice would you give to businesses looking to embark on their own DEI journeys, and how can they avoid common pitfalls or missteps?
A: Leadership alignment and support are important. If leadership does not define the change in diversity, equity, and inclusion that they are seeking to achieve, it will easily become a check-boxing exercise. I also see a lot of activity as DEI can become a “feel-good” exercise for employee engagement. Organisations need to know what and where they are making a difference and why.
Q: What are some best practices for developing a measurable DEI strategy that aligns with an organisation’s ESG mandate?
A: There are many best practices. At a high level, clear quantitative and qualitative goals should be part of an organisation’s business objectives. An organisation could also include DEI-related questions in its annual and pulse surveys. There should be an integrated dashboard measuring all leading and lagging indicators.
Some organisations require all employees to have a DEI component in their work plan, and other organisations that have support for DEI at the highest levels include DEI goals as part of the executive scorecard, with compensation tied to it.
It is also important not to measure activity but social impact – both internal and external. As part of ESG, the external influence is more significant from a social perspective. However, the chain of social implications of an organisation’s action on its ecosystem and operating context is often not sufficiently understood for meaningful interventions to be made.
Q: How can organisations balance cultural sensitivity with the need for standardised DEI practices across different regions and cultures?
A: The global strategy and tactics are singular, but the communities of impact and social issues, which I view as “the content,” should be locally led. The global team will supplement these with toolkits, processes, and best practices.
Rain Khoo on promoting inclusive employment for persons with disabilities
Rain identified employer bias as the most significant barrier for persons with disabilities (PWDs).
Q: In your current role, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges that specially abled individuals face in the job market, and how can businesses better support their employment and career advancement?
A: The most significant barrier is the employer mindset due to prevailing social stigma and bias. Employers and hiring managers think of people with disabilities as less capable. Many company leaders want to do good, but they don’t know how to educate and motivate their employees to do the same. Employers also baulk at hiring people with significant physical disabilities, as they may be concerned about the high investment needed to make their offices accessible.
I suggest that organisations embarking on disability hiring focus on a couple of key disabilities. Physical disability is a good place to start, as it represents the largest pool of talent. In today’s workplace, one can manage it remotely.
The support of their career advancement is no different from that of any other worker. However, when managing neurodiverse employees, organisations should train managers to be self-aware of their potential biases against neurodivergent behaviour and ways of working. That can be very different while still getting the job done.
For example, when working with persons with ADHD, the manager may need to set up a system of prioritisation or otherwise agree on a system so that priorities are aligned. With consent from the employee, sharing their disability with the rest of the team would also grow more empathy and support for their difference.
Q: What are your thoughts on the current job market for senior citizens in India? Are there sufficient opportunities for them, and what challenges do they face?
A: A Randstad study in 2024 found that 31% of Indian employees faced ageism. Ageism stems from the idea that people become expensive and outdated as they age. There is a lack of appreciation for the different abilities that ageing brings, which leads to missed opportunities.
Having companies that do the right thing is important – especially doing the right thing for an employee who has given two to three of their best lives to the company. Companies can consider more part-time or consulting roles to tap into the wealth of experience that senior hires bring to the table.
Senior persons who are managed out and skilled will have opportunities, but they may not be in the usual places. Other places need their expertise, but they may not be able to pay the price tag associated with it. Studies have shown that most retired seniors express a desire to work post-retirement, but the employment gap is not well understood.
There is a government portal, aptly named “Sacred”, for senior citizens to find re-employment. In my current company, Saira, we welcome, but we are looking for, senior citizens, workers with disabilities, back-to-work women, and members from the LGBTQIA+ community. So please head over to www.sairajobs.com and sign up with us.
Rain Khoo on pay parity and equity
Rain emphasised the importance of transparent methodologies for measuring pay gaps, such as regression analyses and Equal-Salary certifications.
Q: How do you perceive the issue of pay parity amongst the marginalised communities, mainly for PWDs, women, LGBTQIA+, and senior citizens? What strategies can businesses employ to address pay gaps and promote fairness?
A: There are just a handful of established methodologies for measuring pay gaps, which should be done annually as part of the pay review process. These are adjusted, unadjusted, mean, median, or regression analyses. Publishing the findings and actions provides transparency and builds trust that the organisation pays fairly.
For women and ethnicities, there is also the Equal-Salary Foundation that can provide transparent certification and accountability measures. For some communities, measuring pay parity is not the key area of focus – this includes PWDs, LGBTQIA+ and senior citizens. Also, for LGBTQIA+, most of the community does not disclose their identity, and no one should pressure them to do so. Hence, it would be challenging to measure pay gaps.
The employment rate of persons with disabilities is only about 11% in India. While ensuring pay parity is important, we should first enable employment access for people with disabilities. There are not enough jobs for people with disabilities in India, which is why the Government increased its quota from 3% to 4% and 5% in 2023. The Economic Times published the disability employment rate of some major Indian conglomerates in August 2023—only Bharat Petroleum and SBI hovered around 2%; the rest were far lower.
Disability unemployment has an intersectional story as well – nearly half, or 47 per cent, of men with disabilities have work. In contrast, only about a quarter, or 23 per cent, of women are employed.
Organisations would need to proportion their effort and investments based on priorities, which is based on the degree of social impact for communities of concern.
The role of technology in inclusion
Rain celebrated the transformative potential of assistive technologies.
Q: What role do you think technology can play in promoting employment opportunities for PWDs and Senior citizens especially, and what innovations or solutions have you seen that address the specific challenges faced by these groups?
A: I love this question. COVID was actually positive for many in the disability community – with the lockdown, there was a more even playing ground. On the side of HR technology, job boards that job-match through skills and platforms enabling continuous lifelong learning are critical employment enablers for these communities.
The increasing prevalence of assistive technologies, such as the use of the World Compliance Accessibility Guidelines, accessibility checkers, video conferencing captioning, and screen readers, has made online interviews more prevalent, hence increasing employment opportunities. Similar technologies have also made it easier for teams to collaborate with their colleagues with disabilities. For example, AI-led assistive technology, such as generative dictation found in Microsoft Copilot, is an excellent tool for increasing the working efficiency of persons with visual impairments.
Balancing inclusion and profitability
Rain Khoo rejected the notion that inclusion is a cost centre.
Q: How can businesses balance the need to address biases against age and disability to create inclusive workplaces with the pressure to maintain competitiveness and profitability in a rapidly changing market?
A: This question assumes that inclusion is a cost centre – that is not the case. The approach to inclusion is an inclusion for all – regardless of any potentially discriminatory characteristics. Who doesn’t want to work for an employer who is fair and equitable? Inclusion leaders are aspirational companies for top talent. Furthermore, a culture of inclusion attracts diverse talent.
Diversity in the workforce, when placed and managed properly, is empowering for innovation and globalisation and allows companies to access new customers. The placement strategy and diverse talent management are also part of DEI.
While more investments may be needed for the inclusion of some communities, this is the cost of righting entrenched inequalities. For example, there is a view that a world created by persons with disabilities would look very different – similarly, a world created by women instead of men. In these cases, top talent, especially the younger generation, prefer to work for socially responsible companies.
Q: How can governments, businesses, and individuals work together to create a more inclusive and equitable job market, and what policy changes or reforms would you advocate for to achieve this goal?
A: The Singapore government, due to historically scarce resources, has a 4Ps approach – this stands for People-Public-Private Partnership. Social transformation for economic inclusion requires this. I am highly encouraged by the progressive inclusion policies that the Indian Government has put in place, consulting with activists and civic society. However, there is a gap in enabling and accelerating the inclusion of marginalised communities on the ground.
That is where more of the private sector needs to come in. There are missing capabilities and insufficient capacity to address the educational gap of marginalised communities to ensure that such communities are not further marginalised during India’s period of growth. Secondly, there is a gap in more precise incentives and requirements for corporate adoption of this aspect of social citizenry.
A decade of POSH has created workplaces in India that are far more inclusive of women. Some countries have introduced a mandatory quota and reporting for disability hiring for companies exceeding a certain size. What is the equivalent for other communities? Through some sort of a 4P framework, I think there is a lot of potential for more coordinated and innovative approaches to reap the economic growth to equalise access for marginalised communities.
The final thoughts from Rain Khoo: A vision for change
Rain Khoo’s journey is a testament to the power of empathy and vision. His work, whether through Dignité Brands or Saira, highlights that inclusion is not just a corporate obligation but a moral imperative.
“Diversity and equity are not just buzzwords. They are about creating systems where everyone can thrive. Change happens one step at a time, but every step counts,” Rain Khoo concluded.
At Changeincontent, we believe Rain’s insights are a masterclass in integrating values into action. His work inspires us to create meaningful conversations and advocate for a world where everyone feels seen and valued.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are based on the writer’s insights, supported by data and resources available both online and offline, as applicable. Changeincontent.com is committed to promoting inclusivity across all forms of content, which we define broadly to include media, policies, law, and history—encompassing all elements that influence the lives of women and gender-queer individuals. Our goal is to promote understanding and advocate for comprehensive inclusivity.
