Leading with a people and climate centric approach: A winning strategy for public enterprises

It was an honor to speak to my colleagues last week on the concept of “HR for the Greater Good” at an event organized by the National Conclave for Central Public Sector Enterprises. It is always humbling to be asked to address your peers – especially when it’s on a topic I am passionate about: how a people and climate centric approach to HR can benefit enterprises.

I had the opportunity to share how SRK’s ethics have served as the foundation of our company’s approach to empowering our family of employees to making lasting contributions to not only our growth but to our commitment to serve the planet, build a better India and beyond, and support our local community. At SRK, we are firmly guided by the Responsible Leadership Model put in place by our Founder and Chairman Shri Govind Dholakia, affectionately known as Govindkaka. The core values for SRK while taking any business decision includes trust, transparency, ethical business practices, humility, credibility, excellence and social consciousness.

Govindkaka created SRK for a larger purpose that is beyond profitability. We take our commitment to the climate and our part in it seriously. SRK is proud to be the first diamond crafting company in the world to commit to the Science Based Target Initiatives (SBTi), to have our two LEED Platinum buildings consistently rank in the top 5 performing LEED certified buildings in the world — and to be the first in the world to certify these to net zero by the Global Network for Zero — a full 6 years ahead of our initial 2030 commitment — putting in place both a high bar and a replicable roadmap for our carbon intensive industry to follow.?

While these climate achievements are something we celebrate, we know these achievements wouldn’t be possible without the support of our talented workforce. The People Management Practices of SRK is guided by the philosophy of “Company as a Family.” SRK, like many Indian family values, encourages mutual respect for all as the first step while addressing people. The people of SRK are part of a family that is deeply interconnected by a common thread of values grounded in excellence, wellbeing and respect, continuous improvement, investment, and yes, performance. Because without performance — we could not achieve our ambitious goals.?

Being an effective and transformative HR leader today comes down to something we at SRK like to call “Pure Empowerment.” It may sound like a simple catch phrase, but it’s a way of life. Standing on the virtuous principles of transparency, reliability, honesty, empathy, and ethics has helped SRK grow and ultimately achieve new heights over the years. We strive to lift as we climb and to set a new livable standard for the people that power our company and our values. That’s why we work with pride and purpose as an integrated family unit.

We strive to create a best-in-class employee experience including daily free meals for employees, healthy indoor work environments certified by the world’s leading certifications like the Global Network for Zero, and unrivaled training and personal development programs. We regularly organize health check-up camps, blood donation camps and yoga sessions for employees and their families.

We also believe that SRK is only as strong and future proofed as the communities where we operate and where our workforce lives. That’s why we have made a long-term commitment to them by contributing nearly 4.5% of our average net profit towards community welfare initiatives designed to lift our communities up. This includes solarizing the entire village of Dudhala – Govindkaka’s home village – which enabled nearly 2,000 people to also earn a passive income from their rooftop installations. SRK also installed free solar rooftops for the families of 750 martyred soldiers and heroes, and on honor of Diwali, gifted solar rooftop panels to 1,000 leading SRK employees. For more information on SRK’s community initiatives, read our Pure Impact report.

During the pandemic, we set up vaccination camps for all SRK team members and their families, providing vaccinations to over 7,000 people. And one thing that I’m particularly proud of is that during the 3 months our factories were shut down, we continued to pay our diamond artisans their full salaries — providing economic security, while also ensuring that our talented workforce would be ready to return to work.

But one of the philosophies that truly sets us apart is how we have taken a conventional business practice and turned it upside down. That practice is the widely used strategy of hiring contract workers to do the work of full-time permanent workers as a means of reducing personnel costs and company exposure. At SRK, we do not differentiate between permanent and contract employees when it comes to protecting their interest by paying their wages and employment benefits. This shows how committed we are towards our HR philosophy of considering employees as a part of our family. It was remarkable decision of management to extend the voluntary PF Cover to more than 35% contractual workforce.

The extension of much needed social security coverage to all employees sent out a concrete message to the employees about their importance to the organisation. This initiative boosted the trust of employees in SRK’s people policies. When the entire diamond industry was heavily relying on contract workers to reduce costs and improve flexibility, SRK eliminated the wage disparity between contractual and permanent employees by covering everyone under the PF contribution scheme. As a result of these people policies, our attrition rate is less than 1% — truly setting the industry standard.

Today, I can proudly say that we have always set a benchmark in the gems and jewellery industry by being a people-centric company. Our motto is to serve people who are giving a hand to us for growing our business. They are indeed our real capital. By creating an unbreakable foundation of employee engagement, public sector enterprises have the opportunity and the responsibility to make climate achievements that will set a new standard for generations to come.

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