NEW DELHI: In a resounding endorsement of its industry-leading people practices, the Vedanta Group, India’s leading producer of metals and oil & gas, has been accredited as Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM along with its Business Units – BALCO, Cairn Oil & Gas, ESL, Hindustan Zinc, Iron Ore Business, TSPL and Vedanta Jharsuguda.
The accolade follows Vedanta Group’s stellar work culture, which fosters an ecosystem of trust, a high-performance culture and imbibes aspects of credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie among its employees. The badge of being ‘Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM, aspired by thousands of organizations every year, bears testimony to the constant innovation and pioneering people practices in the domain of hiring, engagement, diversity & inclusion, rewards & recognition, talent and performance management.
According to Vedanta Group CEO Sunil Duggal, “Vedanta is one of the few organizations in India to be awarded with this coveted certification as a conglomerate, setting a benchmark for others. This bears testimony to our continuous efforts towards being the Best Employer Brand.”
Speaking about the achievement, Group CHRO Madhu Srivastava said, “The Great Place to Work® certification bears testimony to the work culture of the Vedanta Group, which has been built over the years, keeping people before profit. It is a milestone in our journey of excellence and further bolsters our confidence in striving to be the employer of choice across sectors.”
As a Vedanta Group company, Hindustan Zinc feels honoured to be certified as a Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM. This certification recognizes HZL’s work towards building an organization with a High-Trust and High-Performance Culture. It is the result of the company’s strength expressed by employees, as well as the sense of pride they feel in their work, towards their jobs, teamwork, and the company, depicting the ‘Trust-based Performance Culture’ being driven across all levels of the organization. The company has introduced several path-breaking policies and practices for various segments of the workforce which have enhanced productivity and engagement within the organization, under the umbrella of the Vedanta Group’s initiatives.
Vedanta has institutionalized several best-in-industry people practices in its endeavour to be a people-first organization. Few examples:
• Vice Chairman’s Internal Growth Workshop, a robust programme for identifying high potential employees early on in their careers and mentoring them for enhanced roles and responsibilities, followed by a structured review mechanism to map their growth and performance. Over 1000 leaders have been groomed via this initiative across various businesses.
• V-REACH (Graduate Development Programme), a programme that seeks to identify and develop young leaders from the graduate employees’ cadre and map them to significantly elevated roles.
• V-LEAD (Diversity Development Programme) to identify highly potential female candidates early on and groom them into leadership roles.
• Equal opportunity employer – Vedanta’s gender-agnostic job roles have led to the company becoming India’s first to have women as mine managers, a true feat of women’s empowerment.
• ACT-UP, a talent identification assessment programme, is conducted companywide each year through which hundreds of ‘Business Stars’ and ‘Technical Stars’ are identified for accelerated career development with customized Individual Development Plans (IDP).
• Through V-CONNECT, a mentorship programme through which Vedanta has mapped each high potential employee with a mentor to guide them through a personal and professional development journey.
• Chairman’s Discretionary Award, to recognize employees who went above and beyond the call of duty during COVID-19, allowing the company to ensure business continuity and sustain production.
Commenting on Vedanta’s certification, Wilma Mohapatra, Vice President – Great Place to Work® India, said, “Many congratulations to Vedanta Group on getting Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM. We hope you keep raising the bar for yourself and other organizations and conglomerates aspiring to become great workplaces. “
Great Place to Work® is the global authority in creating, assessing, and identifying the Best Workplaces world over. The Great Place to Work® Institute’s methodology is recognized as rigorous and objective and is considered as the gold standard for defining great workplaces across business, academia, and government organizations. The Institute evaluates organisations solely based on employee feedback and quality of people practices, through their trademark Trust Index© Employee Perspective and Culture Audit© Management
Perspective scorecards. Globally, more than 10,000 organizations across 60 countries aspire to achieve this recognition.
To provide employees, business partners and their families with a sense of safety and security, and ensure their well-being, Vedanta has rolled out significant initiatives and HR benefits, like:
• Vedanta Cares Vaccination Drive for all employees, business partners and their families
• Best-in-class Term Life Insurance Policy with world-wide coverage for all executives across the group. The policy provides coverage of 5x the fixed pay for employees, which is equivalent to an annual salary for 5 years.
• Covid Kavach Insurance for business partners includes term life insurance, hospitalization, and an ex-gratia payment of INR 10 lacs to the deceased’s family members.
• Continued payments of last drawn salary and Mediclaim insurance coverage until the notional date of retirement, as well as education assistance for 2 children until graduation, for the families of deceased employees.
• Medical insurance cover has also been enhanced to 1.5 times the existing eligibility, and corporate floater cover has been introduced for any employee that exceeds their eligibility.
• Continuation of Mediclaim Insurance for employees who are retiring
Further, Vedanta is working on a comprehensive vaccination plan to ensure the health and well-being of its people. The plan is to vaccinate 1.12 lakh people, which would include 46,000 employees and family members. Vedanta will spend around Rs 12 crore on procuring the vaccines, the deliveries of which will start later this month. The company continues to continually raise the bar when it comes to developing and caring for its people.
