Published on November 15, 2022
The Tata brand has always been synonymous with ethical business practices. In keeping with this, Tata Power has had a well-defined framework for ethics management. However, given the company’s growth and induction of a younger workforce, it felt the need to make ethics communication more engaging and interactive.
The company wished to understand how other Tata companies were reaching out to younger employees and contract workers and improving their understanding and awareness of ethical behaviour. It also wanted to benchmark best practices in business ethics.
Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG) supported Tata Power in this endeavour by facilitating a session on such best practices with Tata Steel’s Shalini Sulakshana, Head - Corporate Ethics, and Soni Sinha, Chief Ethics Counsellor.
The session was held on May 31, 2022. The speakers shared their insights on a range of topics, including:
- Formal Tata Code of Conduct (TcoC) training at the Board/governing authority level
- E-learning modules on Anti-Money Laundering, and Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption (ABAC) policies
- Data Privacy Policy
- Communication of ‘Ethical Concerns & their Resolutions’
- Outreach programmes on ethics for vendors and suppliers
- Leadership in Business Ethics (LBE) surveys in newly acquired entities, and
- Digital/manual approach for securing TCoC sign-offs from all employees at Tata Steel
Ms Sulakshana spoke at great length on how Tata Steel implemented its Anti Money Laundering and ABAC policies. She also shared details on its concern management system, and the use of digital platforms for training and communication, including the company’s innovative ‘Niti Kathas’ or morality tales for communicating new policies and guidelines, and raising common ethical concerns. Tata Steel has even translated these Niti Kathas into the local languages, gamified them and published them on digital platforms like Yammer.
Going ahead, based on its learnings from the session, Tata Power will conduct an internal LBE survey at its newly acquired entities. It has already launched an e-learning module on its ABAC policy on its online learning portal, Gyankosh. The Chief Human Resources Officer announced the launch of this mandatory training module to all employees via email, and is monitoring their completion status on the same. The company expects this to increase awareness on ABAC among the employees.
Participant Speak
The insights shared by Tata Steel have helped us increase awareness on ethical issues among our employees, and improved the maturity level of our ethics management process.
— Ketayun Fallahzadeh, Head - Risk Management, Ethics & Compliance, Tata Power