As part of its sustained efforts to enable a diverse and inclusive culture, Tata Steel’s West Bokaro Division today onboarded 14 transgenders as Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM) Operators at its mines.
This landmark initiative not only aims to break the glass ceiling but also targets mainstream transgenders in society.
D B Sundara Ramam, Vice President, Raw Materials, Tata Steel, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest along with Atrayee Sanyal, Vice President, Human Resource Management, Tata Steel, Manish Mishra, General Manager, West Bokaro Division, and Debashis Banerjee, Chief Human Resource Business Partner (Raw Materials), Tata Steel.
Speaking on the occasion, D B Sundara Ramam, Vice President, Raw Materials, said, “This day marks yet another milestone in our journey towards a diverse and inclusive tomorrow. Our pioneering Diversity & Inclusion endeavours are transformative in nature and has brought about paradigm shifts in the way we do mining. As an equal opportunity employer, Tata Steel respects uniqueness of individuals and is putting its best foot forward to shape the workspace of tomorrow.”
Congratulating the team, Atrayee Sanyal, Vice President, Human Resource Management, Tata Steel, said, “Pioneering initiatives like this further reinforces our belief in strengthening the organisation through embracing a variety of identities, thoughts, and perspectives,”
“She further said, “This journey of HR excellence has been extremely rewarding and continues to motivate us to explore new horizons. We will continue with our efforts to drive LGBTQ+ inclusion and build a benchmark workplace. We welcome all the members to the Tata Steel family and wish them all success and a great career ahead.”
Recently, Tata Steel’s West Bokaro Division onboarded 17 women as HEMM operators under its Women@Mines initiative. They are currently under training and will be deployed in mining operations early next year. In a similar module, the onboarded transgenders will also be trained for a year before they begin working in mines.
From formation of MOSAIC, Company’s Diversity & Inclusion initiative, in 2015 to participation in RISE – the largest job fair for LGBTQ+ in Asia, to recruiting transgenders now, Tata Steel has not only evolved as a global torchbearer but has also encouraged others to be inclusive and accepting with the change in time.
The Company has always strived to create benchmarks and is credited with several path-breaking policies, practices, and initiatives including 8-hour work, leave with pay, 5-day work week in a manufacturing set-up, menstrual leaves, LGBTQ+ inclusive policies, Women@Mines, and more.
Tata Steel is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, safe, and fair workplace across the globe and continues to embrace new identities including the transgender community to enable more inclusive industrial growth. The Company has set a target of 25 percent diverse workforce by 2025.
