A Tata Communications Case Study

‘Going Big’ with yourEmployee VolunteeringProgram

Tata Communica�on is a global provider of telecommunica�ons solu�ons and services. Headquartered in Mumbai and Singapore, it has more than 8500 employees across 38 countries. The $2.9 billion company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Na�onal Stock Exchange of India and is the flagship telecoms arm of the $103.3 billion Tata Group.

In line with the Tata Group’s philosophy, Tata Communica�ons endeavors to create ‘empow-ered and connected socie�es for sustainable development through best prac�ces’. The com-pany aims to leverage their core exper�se, part-nerships, infrastructure and other resources to create long term shared value for the communi-ty, focusing primarily on underserved, socially and economically marginalized groups, especially women, children, youth, scheduled caste & scheduled tribes.

AboutTata Communications

Corporate SocialResponsibility:Mission & Vision

Commitment to the society is a key pillar of Tata’s businesses. The Group's mission is ‘To improve the quality of life of the communities they serve globally through long term stakeholder value creation based on leadership with trust.

Supriya SinghHead- CorporateSocial Responsibility

Tata Communica�ons needed a be�er way to manage their corporate volunteering efforts. The company's ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy for designing ac�vi�es could not capture the diverse nature of their business opera�ons and geographical spread. Goodera's online volunteering portal enabled employees to browse through the volunteering opportuni-�es in their respec�ve ci�es and sign-up for their preferred ac�vity. The pla�orm helped consolidate the volunteer par�cipa�on data across different ci�es and employee feedback and experience on the ac�vi�es.

The Global EmployeeVolunteering Program

Giving back to the society is at the core of theTata business model, and forms the founda-�on for group-wide employee volunteering ini�a�vesthat aim to touch a quarter of the world's pop-ula�on by 2025

Tata Communica�ons needed a be�er way to invest their efforts in employee volunteering in a manner that the outcomes were more fruit-ful and sustainable. The organiza�on also realized that ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy for designing ac�vi�es cannot work because of the diverse nature of their business opera�ons and cast geographical spread.

The Global Employee Volunteering Program (GEVP) at Tata Communica�ons is 3 years old. A mul�-stakeholder program, employee volunteer-ing is designed to create maximum impact through collabora�ons and is aligned to organiza-�onal impera�ves.

BusinessCase

The Global EmployeeVolunteering Program(GEVP)

Drive Week was one of the best company-wideengagements. Looking forward to TATA Communications

celebrate Drive Week every year.

Employee volunteering at Tata Communica�ons is led by the CEO, along with the Global Manage-ment Commi�ee (GMC) which consists of the top 10 leaders of the organiza�on.

There are mul�ple ways to get the leadership buy in. Tata Communica�ons recommends the following:

Roadmap:

01Leadership buy-in

Creating a business case foremployee volunteering1.

The focused engagement of the leadership establishes precedence for participation by employees across all geographies. It's what brings together a diverse work-force of 10,161 employees of 40 nationalities to work towards a common goal for the betterment of the underserved.

Interacting with leadersvia formal and informalchannels

2.

Tracking employeevolunteering KPIs and sharingprogress with the leadershipperiodically

3.

Taking quick actionbased on leadership onsuggestions/feedback

4.

Tata Communica�ons syncs the organiza�on’s commitment to sustainable development with employee development through its Global Employee Volunteering Program (GEVP). The GEVP operates under the overarching framework of United Na�ons’ Sustainable Development Goals but is not limited to 5 SDGs and It can be aligned to any of the 17 SDGs depending on regional social challenges.

The ‘Global Guidelines for CSR and Employee Volunteering’ details out the management struc-ture, role of stakeholders, locale specific themes and key KPIs, providing ample room for its impro-visa�on and adapta�on to local reali�es. The guidelines lay impetus on forma�on of regional affinity groups, known as ‘Pulse Groups’. These groups cons�tute 100 highly mo�vated cross func�onal employees who volunteer as exten-sions of the CSR func�on for designing, planning, execu�on and monitoring of the ac�vi�es.

All the CSR and employee volunteering interven-�ons are undertaken in project mode with specif-ic targets, outcomes, ac�vi�es and milestones, using a cloud-based technological tool that enables partners and employees to upload real �me data along with ‘geo-tagged’ photographs for precision.

In order to mobilize maximum par�cipa�on, employees are given the flexibility of selec�ng ac�vi�es that align with their desired �me com-mitments and level of mo�va�on. In response, the GEVP was designed around three:

The internal communica�ons team plays a pivot-al role in communica�ng the different ini�a�ves planned throughout the year.

Skill-based volunteering in existing CSR projects

Event based, short terminitiatives

Long term weekendvolunteering

02Developing theframework

The Global Employee Volunteering Program follows a quarterly cycle, with three key perfor-mance indicators:

Volunteering events were designed keeping in mind the above men�oned KPIs. The effort was also to source ac�vi�es within the exis�ng CSR projects, wherever possible. The online volun-teering portal of Goodera enabled employees to browse through all the opportuni�es in their respec�ve ci�es and sign-up for their preferred ac�vity. The pla�orm allowed consolida�ng the volunteer par�cipa�on across different ci�es and employee feedback and experience on the ac�vi-�es.

In order to mobilize maximum par�cipa�on, employees are given the flexibility of selec�ng ac�vi�es that gel well with their desired �me commitments and level of mo�va�on.

Number of volunteers

Number of volunteeringhours

Beneficiaries impacted

03Methodology

The company decided on a mix of quan�ta�ve and qualita�ve frameworks for impact measure-ment.

Quan�ta�ve outcomes were measured against the pre-defined annual metrics in an a�empt to monitor progress quarter on quarter. Annual metrics were broken down into quarterly targets for each region. This informa�on was captured in real-�me, using the cloud-enabled pla�orm which facilitates user registra�on and a�endance marking for listed ac�vi�es, post which with the dashboard then reflect key indicators like number of volunteers, number of hours volun-teered (region-wise) and number of beneficiaries reached. Addi�onally, the volunteering program partner helped in compiling data rela�ng to on-ground impact, on indicators such as – number of students mentored in life skills, number of schools painted, number of check dams created, etc.

While the company is in process of establishing a direct correla�on between GEVP and business performance, they have conducted an internal survey to understand the correla�on between the two. Here are the key observa�ons:

84% felt a renewed sense of fulfilment for contributing to the society

54% were delighted to attempt something new

51% felt an enhanced attach-ment to the organization

46% felt it added to their overall job satisfaction

44% felt that they got connected to more people in the organiza-tion

35% felt that it enhanced their leadership abilities

Impact:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

Drive Week was good, hope to have more activities of this kind in the future.

I would like to have the option to participate in more volunteering activities,such as the one provided during Drive Week. Also, the work the CSR team isdoing makes me proud to be a TATA Communications employee.

A focused plan has been put in place in an a�empt to sustain the momentum achieved in the employee volunteering program:

Training for volunteersBootcamps – select and train volunteers to be more impac�ul in organizing, mobilizing, com-munica�ng and contribu�ng to the greater cause.

ProgramSustainability:

Recognition

Recogni�on of exemplary work done by the volunteers to incen�vize and mo�vate them.

A ‘One in a million’ story series in the internal newsle�er to recognize exemplary volunteering efforts.

Volunteer connects – periodic interac�ons with volunteers and pulse group members to keep the communica�on channel open for feedback and experience sharing.

Target oriented approach

Quarterly employee volunteering plan with set targets in terms of numbers of volunteers, volun-teering hours and beneficiaries reached out to.

Long term skill-based employee volunteering to enable employees to contribute to their domain exper�se.

Testimonials by employees during ‘Internal Customer Satisfaction Survey’ (ICSAT)also strengthened the belief that employee volunteering had positively impacted

organization wide engagement:

“Volunteering begins with the desire to bring a positive change in someone’s life. The inner satisfac-tion of adding a smile to a face, counts. Volunteering does not take a lot of time. And with planning, punc-tuality, regular follow-ups and dele-gation, it is very easy to be mindful of one’s responsibilities, while also being able to make necessary social contribution,” says Diwakar Pandey

Diwakar has been volunteering throughout his 15 years of professional service. At Tata Communica-�ons, he has volunteered in more than a dozen ac�vi�es in Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh.

Diwakar has par�cipated in a many of ac�vi�es including: Seva Sandwich (preparing sandwiches for underserved community children), beach cleanup drives in Mumbai, water conserva�on and awareness ac�vi�es to highlight women’s everyday struggle in collec�ng drinking water, bio diversity walks, recycling waste materials to create new products, and blood dona�on drives, among others. One of his most memorable volun-teering experiences was assembling bicycles and dona�ng them to underprivileged children in Mumbai.

Diwakar is also part of ProEngage (a Tata Group level skill-based volunteering program). He works with a local NGO and undertakes personali-ty development classes for students enrolled in various educa�on/employment courses with the NGO. He has also been part of the first ever film on employee volunteering at Tata Communica-�ons.

He shares that volunteering has enhanced his overall experience of working at Tata Communi-ca�ons and gives him self-sa�sfac�on. Volunteer-ing ac�vi�es have brought him closer to likemind-ed people and he has made many friends in the process, through peer learning and experience sharing.

EmployeeVolunteering Story

DiwakarPandey Senior Manager,P&E Security,Delhi

DiwakarPandeyPhoto here

AboutGoodera

Goodera is a state of the art technology pla�orm that helps companies measure and communicate impact and ROI of CSR, Sustainability and volunteering ini�a�ves. Currently 200+ corporates (24 in Fortune 500) including P&G, Target, Dell, GAP, Abbo�, Amazon are using the Goodera pla�orm across 63+ countries to track, monitor and measure 250mn+ development capital annually to 6mn+ beneficiaries.