Business Responsibility Report

The Company's policy on Prevention of Discrimination at Workplace is premised on its fundamental belief in fostering meritocracy in the organisation, which promotes diversity and offers equal opportunity to all employees. The Company does not engage in or support direct or indirect discrimination in recruitment, compensation, access to training, promotion, termination or retirement.

 

 

ITC has adopted the 'CII Code of Conduct for Affirmative Action' that enjoins the Company to focus on initiatives in the areas of Employability, Entrepreneurship, Education and Employment.

The letter and spirit of the Code have always been practised as part of ITC's approach to building human capital on a sustainable basis through:

• Direct and indirect employment;
• Education, training and skill development to enhance employability; and
• Creation of livelihoods through innovative business models that incorporate social sector contribution and genderised development with the Company’s value chains.

Whilst ITC is committed to employing youth from the disadvantaged communities, it is the Company's belief that a more vital mission is to significantly enhance the talent pool of youth from these communities by equipping them with the necessary skills or qualifications to make them more employable in the formal sectors of the economy. ITC also lays equal emphasis on strengthening the productive base of rural households belonging to marginalised groups through initiatives aimed at natural resource management in order to nurture and create sustainable livelihoods on a significant scale.

The affirmative action initiatives of the Company had a direct and tangible impact on the lives of more than 71,000 Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe households spread over 12 States of the country.

The Hotels Division has been at the forefront in the creation of significant employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Based on their specific skills and aptitudes, people with disabilities have been positioned in various roles in the business. ITC has published two handbooks, namely, ‘A Guide to Universal Design in Built Environments: A Guide for Creating Accessible Building Infrastructure for Persons with Disability’ and ‘ITC Hotels Disability Handbook for Industry’, to create awareness on this important issue.

ITC fosters a culture of care and concern for the well-being of employees. The Company’s remuneration philosophy recognises performance and meritocracy, whilst remaining competitive.

The organisational culture of the Company ensures that aspects of work-life balance for employees, especially for women, are suitably addressed.

ITC is committed to ensuring a gender-friendly workplace for all its employees and seeks to create equal opportunities for both men and women. The Company has put in place suitable processes to ensure issues such as sexual harassment, if any, are effectively addressed.

A grievance committee on gender issues is in place to look into complaints and recommend appropriate action, wherever required. ITC demands, demonstrates and promotes professional behaviour and treats all employees with equal respect.

The Company's talent management strategy is focused on building a future-ready talent bank in the organisation to ensure a pipeline of high-quality managerial talent, specialists and business leaders. ITC's talent engagement approach focuses on attracting and nurturing quality talent supported by significant investments in learning and development. ITC’s talent brand, “Building winning businesses. Building business leaders. Creating value for India.”, reflects its commitment to develop leaders to power its engines of growth, enhance organisational capability to compete and win in the market place and create enduring value.

In 2012-13, over 1,22,000 person-days of formal training was provided to employees at various levels. Of this, more than 11,400 person-days of training specifically addressed environment, health and safety issues.

ITC units have an effective grievance redressal mechanism for its employees.

The Company has made significant investments over the years to ensure that its units provide a safe, hygienic and humane work environment to its employees. Training on EHS is provided to the employees (including service providers’ employees) and covers induction, job specific and refresher training.

For more details, please refer to the ITC Sustainability Report 2013.