December 2024 | 921 words | 3-minute read
2024 saw a massive surge in corporate volunteering at Tata Consultancy Services through Hours of Purpose by Employees (HOPE), matching a growing desire among today’s employees for connection, learning, growth and meaning through work.
Living by Tata values
Building on the Tata ethos of giving back to communities, HOPE provided meaningful pathways for employees through corporate volunteering.
Activating the sense of purpose of over 600,000 employees was a huge undertaking at TCS, given the myriad of interests, passions, skills, locations and need around the world. With a clearly articulated purpose pledge from CEO K Krithivasan, HOPE was cascaded through each leader in TCS' business units, geographies, regions and functions, ensuring organizational alignment around intended impact.
Purpose councils in each of the units were then empowered to customize the way HOPE would be implemented. This created opportunities for socially conscious leaders within each unit to champion their efforts across locations and regions.
Engagement with Purpose
A key enabler of driving the HOPE movement was to integrate volunteerism and community service as one of the pillars of TCS’ talent engagement. This helped draw upon the institutional capacity of the human resources team and functions, to activate employees in a personalized manner.
“It is heartening to see the tremendous response from TCS volunteers to help those in need. Leadership is a privilege, and there is no better demonstration of the Tata values than giving back to society and improving the quality of life.” - K Krithivasan, CEO and MD, TCS
Purpose projects are at the very heart of HOPE, designed to enable volunteers’ everyday actions to address local needs aligned to the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Providing in-person volunteering opportunities, at TCS offices, through large company wide and regional volunteering efforts provided a tangible outlet for employees to see their actions result in positive outcomes. Connecting volunteer teams with local NGOs, schools, orphanages, and community organizations gave them the opportunity to form deeper relationships and drive longer term initiatives.
To cater to the younger demographic’s expectations, HOPE also offered virtual and DIY micro volunteering opportunities, giving them the opportunity to experience the joy of giving and graduate to higher impact volunteering. Skills based opportunities were also provided through TCS’ strategic programs of goIT, Ignite my Future, Each one Empowers One, and Youth Employment Program. Further, TCS’ core competencies in consulting and technology were harnessed through Tech4HOPE pro-bono projects serving NGOs around the world.
Highlights
- TCS volunteers contributed over 6.7 million hours through HOPE and surpassed 11.2 PCVH in a transformational year for community impact.
- Working with more than 180 NGOs, TCS volunteers supported disadvantaged communities with necessities, created better health outcomes for those in need, preserved and protected the environment, empowered better education, employment, entrepreneurship, and livelihoods for the marginalized.
- HOPE positively impacted the lives of 5.41 million people, through purpose projects aligned to the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
- 86.5% of TCS’s volunteering in FY 2024 was through this flagship programme HOPE
- Additionally, TCSers built the capacity of over 50 social sector organizations through skills-based volunteering, and in-kind digital, advisory and technology consulting services.
Impact through Empowerment
Embodying the Tata principles of Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds), the true measure of success of HOPE is demonstrated through the impact it has created for the community. TCS volunteers’ deeds have ensured that the community improves, flourishes, and thrives.
“Volunteering has always been part of TCS’ DNA. By listening to our employees, understanding their passion and interests, we have designed HOPE to fulfil their purpose at work.” - Milind Lakkad, CHRO
To amplify the impact of HOPE, TCS created purposeful partnerships across sectors with local agencies, NGOs, customers, like minded organizations, Tata group companies. Through these partnerships TCS organized beach clean ups, conducted awareness drives on diseases such as Cancer and HIV, Aids, supported orphanages and destitute homes. In particular, blood donation drives across locations have saved over 83,000 lives.
TCSers joined colleagues from companies like Trent, IHCL, and Tata Digital to help provide employment opportunities to marginalized Indian youth. Partnering with Infiniti Retail saw the responsible disposal of 4.5 tons of e-waste, while colleagues from Taj Sats, Tata Coffee, Tata Power and TCS participated in the Ganapati Visharjan beach clean-up, recycling and preventing 2.5 tons of plastic waste from reaching landfills. HOPE's flexible design makes it accessible to volunteers from across companies, driving synergies across shared focus areas.
TCS also established HOPE HUBS to bring like-minded volunteers together to brainstorm and carefully design meaningful volunteering opportunities. For example, a group of 500 active volunteers in Chennai work on different projects including a partnership for palm tree plantation to preserve Tamil Nadu Coastal District beaches.
Recognizing givers
Leveraging internal and external platforms, TCS recognized its top volunteers, teams, and units on an ongoing basis for their impact. Through the Month of HOPE campaign, every geography and country across TCS shined the light on the volunteers and their contribution to the local communities.
These Rays of HOPE and their stories continue to inspire the larger organization, fostering the culture of community service. To support their personal growth journey, TCS’ Leaders with Purpose program also engaged a select group of 68 volunteers in a nine-month learning journey, imparting skills while giving them live learning opportunities to with NGOs in a leadership capacity.
While FY 2024 has been a transformational year, the opportunity it presents for impact is immense. Going forward HOPE will aim to broaden engagement, build sustainability, deepen impact, and foster partnerships to significantly scale the impact on society.
