Making a difference !! Thomson Reuters India

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

―Rabindranath Tagore

In the past few months, a lot has been going on and everyone is negotiating with this pandemic in their own ways. By virtue of working for an employee centric organization as Thomson Reuters, I enjoy the comfort of working from my home. But it is important to remember those who are struggling during these times to have even 2 square meals. In a country like India with a population of 138 crore, social distancing is sometimes a luxury. While many of us continue to work from home, we cannot overlook the vast population working in informal sectors and cannot work virtually. When our country went under a lock-down, it was this part of the community that felt the brunt. All odds were stacked against them – daily wages stopped, supply of food, social distancing in small houses and lot more. And so, our efforts were initially directed towards immediate COVID-19 relief work.

Thomson Reuters India wanted to support and our intervention was done in a planned fashion – first step was to support COVID relief efforts, second – provide skill-based support to solve problems of general public and healthcare workers and then support our in-house support staff.

For COVID relief efforts, we ran an employee giving campaign to fund meals for those from underprivileged communities. We partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation to raise funds for their ongoing relief work in the country. We were able to provide close to 50,000 meals with the funds raised and was distributed to communities living in slums and government identified camps by adhering to guidelines laid down by WHO.

The next need of the hour was innovative solutions that can solve complex problems posed by the lock-down. Our volunteers built a mobile application that was used during the initial phases of the lock-down. The app served several purposes like being a platform for customers and shopkeepers, broadcast messages from local administrative bodies and maintain a network of donors. Later, a team was set up to build a tech solution that provides a platform for healthcare workers in the region to maintain a database of patients. This platform aids the local corporation in learning probable reasons for spread of virus, identifying vulnerable localities and devising a method to curb the spread. The team continues to work on this in collaboration with the local corporation according to the changing needs.

The next organic move was to look out for our immediate support system – TR Support Crew. The support staff includes janitors, technical team and facilities team who are holding the fort across India locations while we work virtually. Our support staff have been working relentlessly from the time we went into a lock-down and continue to do so. They have been our backbone during these trying times and it only seemed fair to rally some support for these unsung heroes. We organized a TR merchandise sale as a fundraiser and was amazed to see the response. To top it off, we ran yet another employee giving campaign. These concerted efforts will help us support over 150 support staff. It was amazing to see the support that we could garner and makes me feel proud to be working with such brilliant colleagues.

Although times may seem challenging, it is amazing that nothing has hampered our resilience and the will to support each other. While we look out for more ways to help and support our communities, I encourage everyone to lend your support. There are several ways how you can help during these times. You can opt for virtual volunteering projects that you can engage from the comforts of your home. Thomson Reuters has also increased the volunteering time off in a year to 4 calendar days to help give back to communities. 

I know this is just a beginning and the journey continues , similarly many organizations are doing their best to serve the community and I am sure that we will get inspired more and more and do well for the communities and societies that we are part of !!!