January 2025 | 531 words | 2-minute read
Guided by the values of the Tata group founder, Jamsetji Tata, IHCL has always been committed to driving policies fostering a humane, inclusive society while maintaining an identity of a socially responsible business house.
The legacy of 'Giving Back to Society' is brought alive by empowering underprivileged youth, promoting social inclusion, and engaging in community programs, while transcending charity, leveraging business strengths, partner networks and employee volunteering for beneficiary empowerment.
IHCL has driven shared purpose and meaningful engagement by offering employees the opportunity to align their values and beliefs with the organisation’s greater purpose of giving back to the community through Paathya, the IHCL ESG+ framework. Every employee at IHCL, is encouraged to volunteer for causes close to their heart, enabled through a host of volunteering platforms.
"In line with IHCL’s ESG+ framework of Paathya, we encourage volunteering as a means to engage with the communities we operate in led by our purpose of creating a positive impact. Our dedicated associates have embraced volunteering as a way of life, nurturing the environment, upkeep of the neighbourhood, community welfare as well as mentoring youth. In FY24 , the over 7 per capita volunteering hours across 2 lakh plus beneficiaries is testament to our commitment.” - Puneet Chhatwal, CEO & MD, IHCL
In FY 2024, volunteering at IHCL has focussed on creating impact by focussing on the following areas:
- Nurturing Communities: From visits to old age homes, orphanages, medical camps, donation drives to distribution of kits to the needy (food, hygiene, hydration, monsoon essentials), IHCL volunteers help to nurture communities in and around its areas of operations.
- Investing in the Environment and Neighbourhood: Activities included planting saplings, upkeep and maintenance of public sites including beaches, schools, libraries and more.
- Heritage and Culture: Our associates work towards the upkeep, maintenance, restoration, waste management and raising awareness around the historic significance of the identified areas.
- Disaster Response: IHCL employees have always risen to the occasion to add strength to group level disaster response efforts from time to time. Apart from the State Disaster Response Platforms (SDRPs) in three designated States/UT: Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Goa, In FY 2024, IHCL associates extended support to individuals affected by floods in regions of Assam, Raigad, Pune, by providing meals and other necessities.
- Building Livelihoods: IHCL employees have dedicated efforts to empower young minds by being knowledge partners in the larger skilling ecosystem, enabling increased employability and livelihood opportunities for youth from the underserved communities. IHCL partners with Tata Steel Foundation for Samvaad, to bring forth the culture, heritage and development of indigenous communities from across the country, and associates lend specific support towards building the capacity of the tribal home cooks presenting their cuisine at various fora.
Volunteering Highlights
- IHCL associates contributed over 1,76,400 hours towards volunteering clocking a PCVH of 7.21 (from PCVH 4.16 in FY 2023) embedding significant scale and impact
- A notable 41.43% of the IHCL workforce engaged in volunteering activities in the course of the year
- The structured volunteering program of IHCL follows the big tent approach to not only ensure that volunteering is open to all employees, family members and retirees but also offering volunteering in varied formats through Tata Volunteering Week, ProEngage, IHCL Volunteering Week, Hotel led volunteering initiatives and employees own initiatives.
- The volunteering aspiration under Paathya for IHCL associates is 12 Per Capita Volunteering Hours/ Employee by 2030.
Volunteering opportunities at IHCL have played a key role in enhancing the associates skills, self-esteem, ability to effectively deal with new challenges. These programs and initiatives are undertaken in association with local partners, including communities, NGO’s, government bodies as appropriate. Recognition mechanism has also been put to place encourage wide participation.
