Domain Human Resource Management (Diversity and Inclusion)

Name of the Case: Diversity Wins: Building a prototype for a sales office staffed
exclusively by LGBTQ+ and PWD employees.
Introduction
LGBTQ+ and PWD inclusion are two important pillars of Mosaic- The Umbrella for D&I initiatives
at TSL. This case is to develop the prototype for sales office with LGBTQ+ and PWD only
employees.

Background
We thrive in a culture of respect, inclusion and diversity. We have always been a pioneering and
enlightened employer and we recognize that our people give us the competitive edge. Our focus is
to embrace a culture of inclusion where everyone is respected and every voice is heard.
We started our journey of D&I in 2015 with formation of Mosaic- The umbrella for D&I initiatives
at Tata Steel. The key focus areas are Women, AA, PWD and LGBTQ+. We have undertaken several
pathbreaking initiatives in the D&I space. We were one of the first companies to introduce
menstrual leaves for employees, introduce equal benefits for LGBTQ+ and their partners, Special
Conveyance benefits for PWD employees, PWD onboarding policy.

Moving closer towards our goal of having 20% women in our workforce, Tata Steel was the first
company in India to deploy women in all shifts in mines.
We also deployed women in B shifts in select plants.

This initiative will focus on four aspects namely Communication, Amenities, Recruitment of
Women: officers and non-officers, and Tejaswini 2.0.

Women Of Mettle is a scholarship program, aimed at encouraging gender diversity and inclusion
in the manufacturing sector. Seeking bright young minds that can rise to a technical challenge,
Women Of Mettle gives students the opportunity to experience real life technical challenges in
the steel industry and gain access to Tata Steel's senior management who act as tutors and
mentors.
We also have introduced equal benefits for the LGBTQ+ community where employees and their
partners (same-sex couples) will be entitled to benefits, like health check-up, medical benefits,
joint house points, adoption leave, newborn parent leave, childcare leave, and inclusion in
employee assistance program honeymoon package.

To further our journey in D&I our focus is now to work on LGBTQ+ and PWD representation in
workforce and to build an inclusive workplace for the LGBTQ+ and PWD employees through this
initiative of a sales office run by LGBTQ+ and PWD employees.

Tata Steel has also started the journey of cultural transformation. This case is also a study on how
inclusion can act as a catalyst for cultural transformation.

It also aims at transforming the positioning of Inclusion as a business investment and moving
away from the view of Diversity for being in the good books/CSR
Problem Statement/Challenges Faced

We have enabling policies and the right intent, now we need to have a prototype to launch a sales
office exclusively run by LGBTQ+ and PWD employees.

Challenges-

 Sourcing the talent

 Retention of talent
 Ensuring the model of engagement is self-sustaining and scalable to other parts of the
organization
 Leadership buy in- The business case for inclusion

Critical Case Questions

 Where do we source talent from? How do we enhance our current Talent Acquisition
process to make this happen?
 How do we enable the employees we recruit? What are the enablers for them to succeed
at workplace.
 What will be the working mechanism of this sales office? Which are the kind of roles that
can be included.
 How can we foster a spirit of inclusion through this sales office? (interactions, working
examples of business results, learnings and sensitization programs)
 How will we manage a hybrid workforce model (with combination of work from home-
Absolute and flexi, infrastructure (Physical and digital), leadership model of the unit,
organization design and product portfolio for sales)
 How can we scale the model to other units at TSL.
 What effect does this have on the culture of TSL? What impact does it create? How can we
measure the impact?