Tata Communications drives a social agenda
IMPLEMENTED FROM SEPT 1115, DRIVE WEEK WAS AIMED AT UNITING EMPLOYEES TO SERVE A COMMON GOAL OF GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY
What happens when an organisation declares a tools down day for all of its 10,000 employees to devote their time and energy to a cause they believe in? You have over 25,000 hours of volunteer time – which translates to nearly three years – to give back to society in various forms. Hours joyfully spent in various tasks – be it painting schools, doing crafts with underprivileged children, planting saplings, working at an NGO to recycle usable goods, or cleaning the beach.
Tata Communications concluded the first edition of its most ambitious and far-reaching staff volunteering project: DRIVE Week. Implemented from September 11-15, 2017, DRIVE Week was a company-wide campaign aimed at uniting employees across geographies to serve a common goal of giving back to society with joy. During the week, employees across locations chose to contribute to an initiative close to their heart from a line-up of carefully curated activities such as painting schools, doing crafts with underprivileged children, working at an NGO to recycle usable goods or cleaning beaches.
Speaking on the importance of this initiative Aadesh Goyal, Chief Human Resources Officer, Tata Communications said: “In keeping with our company values, DRIVE week is a unique platform that offers employees a chance not only to realise their philanthropic ambitions, but also bond with their colleagues over meaningful societal causes and issues beyond the boundaries of the formal workplace. The experience helped bind our unique culture to a social purpose that is much larger and goes beyond the day-to-day of business.”
Last year, Tata Communications launched DRIVE (which stands for Daring | Responsive | Inclusive | Venturing | Ethical) - a new set of leadership signature behaviours to bring a fundamental change in the way the company’s people think, live and work.
After a year, DRIVE forms the foundation of the company’s business strategy and is at the core of everything it does. As Tata Communications enters the second year of this initiative , the company continues to work towards further strengthening its commitment to communities and the importance it places on corporate responsibility.
The initiative saw participation from employees across offices including India, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Canada, Spain, Poland, Philippines, Australia, Sri Lanka and the USA.