Developing empowered
and compassionate leaders
for shaping New India
HIGHLIGHTS OF FY 2022-23
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TOTAL WORKFORCE STRENGTH0,0
DIFFERENTLY-ABLED WORKFORCE
Material Topics
Health, Safety and Employee Well-being
Diversity and Inclusion
Talent Management
Labour Management
Human Rights
Business Ethics, Integrity and Transparency
Grievance Redressal Mechanism
The one common, unifying thread that runs through everything at Reliance is the spirit of CARE and EMPATHY for its employees, customers, communities and all other stakeholders. The Company’s rise to become one of the world’s largest and most respected organisations is a result of the talent and determination of its employees. Today, Reliance is grooming a new generation of leaders who are driven and passionate about building a New India and a better tomorrow for humanity.
The Company believes that healthy interpersonal relations create happy organisations. Reliance is committed to engaging and aligning its employees to its goals to ensure that the Company can continue to create sustainable value for stakeholders.
Reliance strongly emphasises its "We Care" philosophy, which is deeply ingrained in the Company’s culture. The Company’s unique care and compassion-led organisational culture has powered its unparalleled success for over four decades. The culture is designed to nurture achievers who believe in themselves and the Company’s ability to break new ground, build and grow paradigm-changing ventures while always leading with honesty and integrity. The Company and its leadership are primarily responsible for protecting and promoting this culture by equipping its human capital with knowledge, experience and an unwavering commitment to professional ethics and discipline.
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PERSON-HOURS OF TRAININGACROSS THE GROUP
0.0%
FEMALE EMPLOYEESACROSS THE GROUP
Management Approach
Reliance is one of India’s most preferred and largest private sector employers, known for its strong and equitable human capital strategy. Reliance is committed to creating a supportive and inclusive work environment where employees feel valued, safe, connected, and treated with respect and empathy. During the year, people manager trainings were conducted regularly to better understand and develop skillsets for building psychologically safe environments and proactively addressing mental well-being issues. R-Manager, a learning programme, has been launched to equip first-time managers with essential people management skills. Additionally, various leadership development programmes like CAP, FLYER, and STEP UP help to nurture and empower young leaders, guide them on internalising the Founder’s Mindset, and build Leadership Capital in the organisation.
Reliance believes diversity gives an organisation a competitive edge, encourages innovation and vibrancy of thought and action. A diverse workplace strengthens understanding of and responsiveness to the ever-changing needs of a varied customer base. The Company has implemented several initiatives to attract and develop a diverse and inclusive workforce, with a focus on women, to continue its successful evolution as an organisation. From launching a women’s engagement platform, HerCircle (launched in 2021), to offering mentorship, leadership development programmes and flexible work arrangements, Reliance is committed to creating successful, sustainable and impactful careers for women.
The Company has implemented a comprehensive approach to human capital management to address the key issues identified as part of a detailed materiality assessment conducted in the previous reporting year covering health, safety, and employee wellbeing; diversity, inclusion; talent management; labour management; human rights; business ethics, integrity, transparency; and grievance redressal mechanisms. The HRNR Board committee provides oversight and governance to monitor the performance of the people function. Additionally, multiple internal review meetings at the business segment level occur periodically to review the key HR issues, metrics and compliances.
Material Topics
Health, Safety and Employee Well-being
Reliance prioritises protecting, promoting, and enhancing employee wellbeing. The statement "Safety of persons overrides all production targets" emphasises the importance the Company places on the safety and wellbeing of its human capital. Reliance has a goal of zero incidents and believes all injuries, occupational illnesses, and safety and environmental incidents are preventable.
Reliance recognises healthy and safe working conditions as a human right and adheres to all local and national health and safety regulations. The Company has implemented a globally benchmarked Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) framework across all sites, services, and offices.
The Company’s HSE policy complies with statutory requirements and covers all its employees and contractors. The policy terms are implemented through a systematic Operating Management System (OMS) that promotes execution excellence and compliance to manage Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) risks in daily operations. Implementing a standardised risk management process through the OMS has improved risk awareness and understanding among asset-facing personnel, who can now manage operational risks in real-time. Reliance continually reviews and updates the organisation’s HSE practices to deepen the safety culture.
The Change Agents for Safety, Health and Workplace Environment (CASHE) is an internationally recognised programme by Reliance to prioritise workplace safety and health. This innovative program has a proactive and preventive approach that fosters teamwork by the Medical, Safety, Environment and Technical departments and has established a landmark in occupational health. CASHE has created a hazard-free environment and a positive change in the work attitude of employees and contract workers from the grassroots to the highest level.
Task-Based Health Risk Assessment (TBHRA), a part of CASHE, introduces employees to the concept of comprehensive health risks and their relevance in the workplace. The TBHRA has been endorsed by the employees as fundamental to a safe workplace.
In FY 2022-23, the Company invested `987 crores in HSE initiatives. The company has implemented a comprehensive procedure to extract valuable insights from each incident, thereby facilitating organisational learning through thorough investigations and proactive measures. These processes have been digitalised, leveraging an integrated incident management application that enables efficient reporting, investigation, action tracking, and knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, the incorporation of controls within these processes ensures effective management and mitigation of incidents.
A Safety & Operational Risk function at the corporate level brings specialised knowledge and provides independent assurance. This function aligns OMS requirements with global and national standards such as OSHA, ACGIH, API, PESO, PNGRB, OISD and NFPA. The Company has adopted a three lines of defense approach to gain an impartial perspective on OMS implementation for operations and maintenance procedures. The OMS principles are integrated within the operational framework, ensuring the safe, compliant and dependable functioning of the business. The system is continually enhanced to draw on learnings from incidents to improve operational efficiency, safety and reliability further.
The Company conducts regular training sessions for employees and workers to improve their awareness and understanding of workplace hazards and risks. The Company maintains open communication channels with its employees and workers to understand their concerns and feedback related to HSE and address them promptly.
Reliance collaborates with other industry players to further the mission of health and safety for all and sponsored the "6th Global Summit on Process Safety" organised by the Centre for Chemical Process Safety.
The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Management system at Reliance encompasses the Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) process, workers' training and incident identification frameworks. Highly competent HSE and Process Safety teams within the operating units are responsible for the governance of OHS.
Reliance ensures regular HSE communication and awareness to enhance workplace safety culture. Through regular message broadcasting, the Company keeps employees informed about safety policies, procedures, and best practices, empowering them to take ownership of safety.
Through consistent engagement with the asset-facing personnel, the Company has demonstrated unwavering commitment to maintaining a secure work environment. During the year there was no fatality in the manufacturing operations.
The Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) for O2C and E&P (excluding Malaysia) is 0.14 per million man-hours. In Malaysia, the LTIFR was 2.01 per million man-hours. The LTIFR for Retail is 0.05 per million man-hours, and the LTIFR for Jio is 0.20 per million man-hours.
Road Safety Awareness Drive
A 'Road Safety Month' featuring awareness events and training programmes for employees on safe practices and behaviours was organised by Reliance.
Leadership Safety Gemba Walkthrough
The Safety Gemba Walkthrough by cross-functional team leaders at Reliance Retail helps them directly observe the daily operations of the stores and identify improvement opportunities for health and safety, customer experience, employee engagement, and operational efficiency.
R-Swasthya
R-Swasthya is an integrated scientific approach based on the Wellbeing Wheel framework that promotes positive HSE practices. Reliance has curated initiatives around the petals - Physical, Mental, Emotional, Social, Financial and Spiritual – to strengthen the ecosystem where employees experience psychological safety.
R-Swasthya is focused on managing lifestyle diseases and coping with mental and emotional issues through various wellness engagements with experts and sessions with counsellors. More than 37,000 employees and family members have availed of these interactive sessions on physical, mental, financial, spiritual, and social wellbeing topics. The programme saw 22 doctors being trained to handle cases of anxiety and stress. It also had special intervention to equip managers to foster the holistic wellbeing of their teams.
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
The Reliance Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provides preventative and remedial mental health and counselling services for employees and family members to ensure their psychological wellbeing. Employees or their family members can reach out to the Company’s EAP partner - via email, phone, or through the JioHealthHub app for confidential services that are free of cost.
The usage of EAP has increased by 33%, with a particular uptick in the Stress Control Online programme, a coach-guided resilience-building intervention designed to help employees cope with stress using a preventative and early intervention approach.
Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA)
Selected employees have been certified as MFHAs to act as the first point of contact for people with mental health issues or experiencing emotional distress.
People Manager’s Guide to employee well-being
The Company has published a guide for managers to have empathy-led conversations about stress and mental health challenges with their peers and teams.
World Mental Health Day
To mark World Mental Health Day 2022, the R-Swasthya team organised week-long activities to educate employees on the importance of mental health.
Addressing Lifestyle Diseases Periodic Medical Examination (PME)
The Periodic Medical Examination (PME) cycle was made available for employees and their spouses across India in the reporting year post removal of COVID related restrictions. PME reports generated and documented as part of Reliance Health Management System (HMS) facilitate targeted interventions for individuals and groups. Employees are subjected to health risk assessments, and appropriate measures are taken to prevent any medical complications.
Diabetes Control Mission
This mission has been conceptualised to address the challenges faced by prediabetics (those with a deviation in blood sugar level but not yet diagnosed) and uncontrolled diabetics by introducing a series of interventions related to dietary modifications, lifestyle habits changes and improving mental wellbeing to add healthy years to life.
Workplace Nutrition
R-Swasthya encourages colleagues to adopt a healthier lifestyle by providing Healthy Thali, which encourages the consumption of millets and promotes a no-sugar diet. For the convenience of employees, the Company has launched a digital recipe book called "Plate full of Goodness", which contains various nutritious recipes.
Monthly Health Programmes
A monthly calendar of health programmes has been created for better planning and execution.
World Heart Day
The R-Swasthya team conducted week-long sessions featuring yoga, meditation, Zumba, aerobics, a walkathon and expert advisory conversations to mark World Heart Day.
World Diabetes Day
To mark World Diabetes Day, Reliance teams participated in several activities reiterating the importance of healthy living to fight the disease. A digital flipbook, “Myths & Facts on Diabetes Management” was launched on the occasion.
- A webinar on ‘Diabetes Mellitus – Prevention and Management’ saw over 13,000 participants.
- The Retinopathy Detection camp benefitted more than 1,000 people.
- Diabetes and pre-diabetes screening was done.
- A ‘No Sugar Today Pledge’ campaign reached 100,000 people.
- Fitness activities were organised at state offices.
0,000
PARTICIPANTS ATTENDED THEWEBINAR ON 'DIABETES MELLITUS'
Reliance Family Day
Reliance celebrated its 20th Family Day to reinforce the spirit of togetherness and unity among the Reliance family. The virtual event garnered participation from more than 26,000 logins, comprising employees and their respective families.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Company has championed the cause of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in the workplace alongside its goals of growth and expansion. When people from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences come together, they bring unique perspectives that can lead to breakthroughs and new ways of thinking.
To stay competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment, some key D&I initiatives undertaken in the reporting year include:
- Developmental journey for high-calibre women under R-Aadya, covering 196 women employees.
- Inclusive leadership training covering 180+ managers and 540+ employees.
- 'Inspiring Leader Connects' Series to create a more enabling workplace.
- Employee storytelling and celebrations of diversity days are undertaken to increase conversations on allyship and intersectionality through specific campaigns like "Celebrating Inclusion Celebrating You", #BreaktheBias, Pride celebrations, Celebrating relationships.
- A dedicated portal also shares stories of inclusion and growth and provides information to help employees adhere to and promote the Company’s D&I principles and become stronger inclusion allies and ambassadors.
Diversity Milestones At Reliance
2021: Group-wide D&I Charter was launched that outlines the Company’s vision and approach to building a diverse workforce
2022: Ms. Isha Ambani announced the formation of a Group-wide D&I Council to provide strategic guidance and a clear roadmap to foster a more equitable and inclusive ecosystem for all.
Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Policy
In accordance with the requirements of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 ("POSH Act"), the Company has a policy with zero tolerance for any misconduct related to sexual harassment of women at the workplace. The Company has constituted Internal Committee(s) ("ICs") to redress and resolve any complaints arising under the POSH Act. Training and awareness sessions are conducted throughout the year to enhance sensitivity at the workplace.
Enriching Professional Development of Women
Reliance Retail’s 6-month 'WE Women Leaders Programme' which aims to develop high-potential women at the mid-level, saw 100 participants complete the course across 4 seasons, with 53% being promoted or taking on broader roles. Currently, the Company has a 20% women representation at the corporate level and 26% in stores. 12% of the Company’s leadership are women, and the business is taking active steps to boost gender diversity at higher job levels. The Brand and Jewels businesses have the highest percentage of women employees at 32% and 30%, respectively.
Reliance Retail also has two flagship programmes: 'Jagriti' and 'Pragati,' which aim to help women employees grow into managerial roles at stores. 563 stores are now led by women managers, with the grocery business having the most women-led stores at 249, followed by 119 in Trends.
Reliance Retail has launched its 'Back Again' programme that offers a second career opportunity to women on a break. The unit has received 400+ profiles of women on career breaks in response to an internal referral campaign and has now launched an external outreach campaign for the programme.
Through the Matrika programme, the HR Business Partner (HRBP) maintains constant contact with the women employees during their maternity break providing post-delivery care for their physical and mental health and other resources that help them return to work seamlessly.
The Company also encourages 3PL service providers to commit to more women’s participation in the workforce for packing and picking operations in warehouses and fulfilment centres.
Seema M | Store Manager | Grocery Business
Seema joined Grocery business in 2015 and worked as a Customer Service Associate for 3 years. She comes from a humble background and stays with her husband who runs a small shop and her 10 year old son. Her dedication and hard work got her promoted to Senior Customer Service Associate. She enrolled for Jagriti, a 6 months transformational programme and eventually got promoted to Assistant Store Manager.
Seema was nominated for Pragati, a 3 month leadership programme, which saw her becoming a Store Manager.
R-Aadya Gender Inclusion Programme
R-Aadya is a D&I initiative that addresses the specific needs and challenges women employees face related to professional career advancement.
Development interventions like R-Aadya Cohort Journey for high Calibre Women, R-Aadya table talk, and Inspiring Women Leader Series, under the aegis of R-Aadya, empower women to reach their full potential in the workplace.
In FY 2022-23, approximately 1500 women employees participated in R-Aadya initiatives. Additionally, 'Inclusive Leadership' workshops equipped 180+ managers and 540+ employees to understand, accept, manage and address their biases.
Thematic knowledge sessions are regularly conducted by internal and external Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to enhance awareness and sensitisation around diversity and inclusion.
Her Circle
On Women’s Day, India’s foremost digital content and networking platform for women, Her Circle, celebrated its 2nd anniversary with an inclusive initiative. Founder, Mrs. Nita M Ambani launched 'The Her Circle EveryBODY Project' to drive a nationwide body-positivity movement of acceptance and inclusivity.
In the Her Circle exclusive interview, Mrs. Ambani said, "The Her Circle, EveryBODY Project is a project that truly celebrates everybody, irrespective of size, age, colour, religion or neurodiversity. The aim is to create a safe place, a circle of kindness, of compassion, and of non-judgmental acceptance."
‘The Her Circle EveryBODY Project’ will use real-life stories and short films of women who have challenged the unrealistic beauty standards and toxic norms that expect you to be of a certain size, colour and shape and turned it around to succeed, embrace their uniqueness and be the change and influence in the digital space. Her Circle will be encouraging women to put themselves first and build a larger circle of kindness and wellness.
"Project EmpowHer" is an initiative aimed at empowering women in the workplace, promoting career advancement, and raising awareness about their health to nurture future women leaders in store managerial roles. The project was launched on International Women’s Day 2023 to give female managers visibility and understanding of leadership roles for female customer service associates. The programme also promotes female health and hygiene, including campaigns to distribute safety kits and conduct medical camps.
Pratima Mishra, a PwD employee at Trends store, a winner at state-level cricket tournaments, was recognised for her exceptional contribution to the field of cricket. She joined as a Trainee and has grown to the position of Customer Service Associate with sheer grit to achieve what she desired for. Many customers have also praised her humble and friendly nature.
Talent Management
Attracting and Upskilling World-Class Talent
The Company’s talent development agenda is drawn from its motto ‘Growth is Life’.
Reliance attracts top talent and nurtures its employees’ professional and personal growth. The Company offers competitive compensation and benefits packages, promotes a positive work-life balance and fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration to make employees feel supported in their work and personal lives. The Company’s learning programmes are designed to deliver outcomes that are reflected in the business results and support employees at every development stage of their professional journey
RIL ranked #20 in Forbes’ 'World’s Best Employers 2022’ list and was placed as India’s Best Employer.
Talent Review and Succession Planning
Talent Development has always remained a key enabler for achieving business and people outcomes at Reliance. The Company focuses on three key areas to promote a culture of continuous improvement and development among its employees.
Nurturing Young Talent
Reliance hires graduates from leading campuses to actively contribute to its growing business and ecosystem. The Company has onboarded 1,250 graduates and post-graduates from premier business schools, engineering colleges and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) across four cadres:
- Reliance Emerging Leaders Program (RELP)
- Graduate Engineering Trainees (GET)
- Executive Trainees (ET)
- Chartered Accountants
The Ultimate Pitch
(TUP) 8.0 –
Nurturing
Entrepreneurial Thinking
Among Youth
The Ultimate Pitch (TUP) was born in 2016 as a strategic elevator pitch contest to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurial thinking and innovation among the youth.
The key highlights of TUP 8.0 include:
- 15,300+ student registrations from 400+ institutes and idea submissions from over 1,300+ teams.
- 120 teams shortlisted after a rigorous screening
- The Semi-final was hosted on a virtual 3D platform, one of the key attractions being “Reliance with India,” a unique interactive zone where users could visualise the span of Reliance’s reach/ touchpoints
- An exclusive JioGenNext workshop was conducted for the 20 Semi-Finalists
- The 10 National Finalists received exclusive mentorship from the CXOs/Founders of start-ups at Reliance – Urban Ladder, Fynd, Grab, Qalara, Zivame, Cover Story, Now Floats, MilkBasket, NetMeds and Addverb
- The Grand Finale was hosted at Reliance Corporate Park where teams had to win over the Grand Jury as well as the Reliance audience to be crowned “The Ultimate Winners“ of TUP 8.0
Building Leaders of Tomorrow
The Company follows a structured leadership development approach Including:
- Career Acceleration Program (CAP): Reliance’s flagship leadership development programme that identifies high-potential talent through rigorous evaluation and supports their development to fast-track their growth.
- Step-Up: A development programme to build transitional leadership capability for First Level, Senior Level and Group Leader roles
- First Line Young Engineers at Reliance (FLYER) programme seeks to build commercial and business acumen among engineering talent to groom them as effective technical leaders
- For Stores/ Field employees: Reliance Retail’s transition capability building programmes ranging from 6 months to a year groom employees for the next level in their careers by building the right capabilities critical for their future roles. These programmes have built a strong leadership pool in-house by enabling internal growth opportunities for store leaders.
Spectrum – Learning as a Way of Life
Reliance’s annual learning festival, Spectrum, allows employees and their families enjoy several immersive developmental experiences. Spectrum celebrated its 7th edition with a theme of ‘Upskill, Upgrade, Uplift’ and saw participation from 20,000+ learners with 100+ leaders as sponsors, speakers and mentors and a unique metaverse-powered experience on the end-to-end Energy & Materials value chain.
Talent Sustainability and Building Future Readiness
- Annual talent review and succession planning: Reliance has robust succession planning mechanisms to identify high-potential talent and prepare them for critical leadership positions. The identified talent receives structured Individual Development Plans with personalised development support in line with the same. This involves methods like coaching, job shadowing and working on stretch assignments, along with traditional educational support.
- The Company focuses on upskilling employees in emerging technologies and new age skills on a regular basis. Awareness is built at a mass level on areas such as Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Virtual, augmented and mixed reality and Internet of Things. Deep skilling of specific target groups, including our high potential talent, is aligned to technology implementation plans in the respective domains.
Nurturing a Coaching Culture
The Company actively encourages mentoring and coaching as a professional development and growth pathway. At Reliance Retail, coaching is structured in three stages: performance coaching, transition coaching and succession coaching. The unit focuses on identifying senior leaders and building their capacity to coach.
Reliance Retail’s vision is to develop and certify 1000 coaches within the organisation. These coaches will then train through a dedicated Coaching-on-Demand platform, wherein any employee within the organisation can choose and avail of the coaching support. Executive coaching engagement is also provided to senior leaders to manage their transitions, enhance their performance and prepare them to take up future leadership positions.
Retail Leadership Development Academy
This is a structured leadership platform to inculcate the culture of entrepreneurship, develop future leaders and nurture the current ones. The programme is based on the DNA and cultural building blocks of Reliance Retail - agility, scalability, human centricity and inclusive growth. The ideal behaviour statements are mapped to the Reliance Leadership Capability Framework. The development interventions consist of blended learning delivery with a mix of case study based sessions, Self-directed online courses, Micro learning, Virtual instructor led-sessions, assignments and projects in addition to master classes by experts and live projects.
Level 1: Foundational Leadership Programme – 6 months development programme targeted at frontline leaders.
Level 2: Aspirational Leadership Programme – 12 months development programme for middle managers
Level 3: Inspirational Leadership Programme – 12 months development programme for functional leaders.
Level 4: Transformational Leadership Programme – Targeted at senior leaders of the organisation and customised as required.
Democratising Learning – Reliance Retail
Reliance Retail’s annual learning event, Transformance, was conducted this year with the theme of 'Democratising Learning', which encouraged employees to take control of their own development and design their careers within the Company. It also created a pull-based learning culture that customises learning to employees’ preferences and enables anytimeanywhere- anyplace learning.
The event garnered participation from 19,000+ learners and 30+ leaders across the organisation who joined the event over a true hybrid platform – Metaverse.
Reliance Retail used various methodologies for talent development, including ILTs/VILTs, in-house digital learning, MOOCs, and blended learning pathways. More than 11,615 sessions were delivered across all businesses, with over 19,225 self-learning modules available in LMS. Employees could access over 11,000+ courses on LinkedIn Learning and 9,700+ courses on Coursera anytime, anywhere, through the Learn and Grow App. Blended learning pathways were created through LMS to build functional, behavioural, and leadership capabilities.
Mission Kurukshetra (MK)
Mission Kurukshetra (MK), launched in 2014, is now a treasure trove of 37,733 path-breaking ideas submitted by the talent pool of Reliance. It has democratised creativity and innovation within the organisation by playing an integral role in gathering and screening valuable ideas received from Reliance employees. 2,796 new ideas were submitted in FY 2022-23 which were evaluated, refined and executed to create a positive impact.
PeopleFirst
Reliance has developed a highly comprehensive and integrated People, Culture and Infrastructure Platform, ‘PeopleFirst’, which is designed to meet diverse business and people needs.
PeopleFirst aims to create employee delight through process automation and the use of futuristic technologies like data science, predictive analytics, and AI. The suite of products offers flexibility for extensive customisation, accommodating future changes to policies or processes.
The employee-centric platform offers enhanced agility, allowing for access anytime and anywhere through a mobile application. The beneficial impact on Reliance employees is evident from PeopleFirst’s wide adoption and utilisation:
Mobile App downloads
- 5 Lakh+ Downloads
- 1.5 Lakh+ daily mobile users
- Play store rating is 4.3 / 5
- Database of 5.7 million candidates
A world-class Performance Management System (PMS) has been developed, with wide customisation choices linking individual performance to business outcomes, capturing feedback from primary and agile project teams and many more features. PMS will also be linked to Learning and Development and Talent Marketplace products to provide personalised solutions based on employee requirements and aspirations.
PeopleFirst reinforces Reliance’s commitment to employee wellbeing and delight by consolidating all Employee Benefits, leave and attendance management, and other essential employee life cycle aspects into a simple, intuitive, and user-friendly interface.
The platform is envisioned to support Reliance businesses with digitising Manpower Planning and visualising Organisation Structure, to enhance data-driven decision-making through (near) real-time analytics and dashboards. It will also provide support for Industrial relations and Compliance Management.
It will also help businesses streamline and optimise hiring and onboarding processes by automating repetitive tasks and allowing for AI enabled JD-CV match, saving time and cost, and eliminating biases, thereby improving candidate experience. Growth and development of employees will be facilitated through highly robust products for competency management, career management, assessments, internal job postings and an intelligent learning management system for anywhere, anytime learning.
With its highly configurable design, PeopleFirst revolutionises the way diverse internal and external talent experiences Reliance, drives swifter adoption of ‘future of work practices’, and helps build an organisation that continues to thrive in a rapidly changing business environment.
Source-Train-Hire
Reliance Retail aims to expand its business in Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities but ready source of a trained workforce is a challenge. To address this issue, Reliance Retail launched the Source-Train-Hire model, which involves sourcing and training economically and socially disadvantaged candidates before hiring them as full-time employees. However, the pandemic disrupted physical classroom training, and the Company had to switch to virtual training. Reliance Retail curated new content and created an appropriate ecosystem for distance learning. The model has been successful, with over 14,548 candidates trained and 13,290 candidates placed in FY 2022-23, with coverage across 30 states and 900+ cities. 61% of the candidates were from rural areas, and 24% were women.
The tenets of Institutional Leadership Capacity Building
At the 45th Reliance AGM held on August 29, 2022, the Chairman, outlined the Company’s ten tenets for building leadership capital through nurturing the Founder Mindset at Reliance – now and in the future.
Among the ten capitals outlined, the following eight are designed to strengthen the Company’s Human Capital.
People Capital
Reliance has an ongoing focus on human capital development by investing in and nurturing the skills, knowledge, and abilities of the workforce. Mentoring is facilitated for employees to gain valuable insights into the Company culture and best practices, enhance productivity and grow professionally.
Capability Capital
Promoting Capability Capital entails investing in and nurturing the skills, knowledge, and abilities of employees to expand their capabilities and improve their performance. Reliance ensures this through career acceleration programmes designed to help employees advance their careers through training and development opportunities, mentoring, and coaching.
Talent review and succession planning helps identify employees most likely to be successful in leadership roles and other key positions.
Achievement Capital
To build a positive culture of recognition and motivation within the Company, Reliance rewards and honours achievers who exceed expectations. This reward might be in the form of financial incentives, promotions, plaques or public recognition.
Relationship Capital
To strengthen relationship capital within the organisation, Reliance fosters a positive and inclusive organisational culture through regular team-building activities, open and transparent communication, and opportunities for employees to connect outside of work. Regular meetings, clear and concise communication channels, and opportunities for employees to work together on projects and initiatives to promote effective communication and collaboration.
Trust Capital
Trust is a critical component of functioning at Reliance since it allows people to work together effectively, make decisions quickly and confidently, and build long-term relationships. At Reliance, leaders and managers are encouraged to promote transparency and build regular communication with employees at all levels to create and maintain a sense of trust.
Cooperation Capital
Reliance believes that cooperation is essential to achieving goals and objectives, as it allows people to work together effectively and maximise their collective expertise and resources. The Company has included cooperation as an integral part of its Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and promotes crossfunctional collaboration.
Reliance has created channels for open and regular communication and feedback to help employees work together effectively and solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Empathy Capital
Reliance believes compassionate capitalism needs compassionate leaders. Empathy capital at Reliance is symbolic of the organisation’s compassionate leadership. Empathy is important for Reliance because it allows people at the Company to connect with one another on a deeper level, understand and respect one another’s perspectives and experiences, and work together more effectively.
Reliance also highlights empathy capital by encouraging employees to give back to the community and be socially responsible.
Integrity Capital
Reliance upholds the highest standards of integrity and ethical behaviour. Ethics is one of the five enablers of the Company’s strategy and, is a source of our competitive strength. Reliance is committed to establishing a culture of integrity, transparency, openness and compliance – as evident in our Values, Behaviours, and Code of Conduct.
Reliance considers itself an integral part of the business ecosystem and takes it upon itself to extend all support to our business partners to also work towards ethical conduct of business. Towards this, an e-learning module – "Satarkata" – has been rolled out, and access is provided to identified business associates. This will help vendors better understand Reliance’s Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS) and create the right levels of awareness about the Company’s expectations of ethical conduct from business partners.
Labour Management
Human Rights
Reliance follows the principles of the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour practices, environmental protection, and anti-corruption. The Company’s operations adhere to local and national regulations and also ensure adherence to the Code of Conduct. Collective bargaining agreements cover the majority of permanent workers across all manufacturing facilities. No instances of child labour, forced labour, involuntary labour, sexual harassment, or discriminatory employment were reported during the reporting period. Men and women in the same roles receive equal pay at the entry-level in Reliance.
Business Ethics, Integrity and Transparency
Reliance’s Code of Conduct defines the behaviour expected from all the employees and stakeholders and lays down the policies and systems for effective implementation. These guidance documents enable employees to operate with ethics, integrity and transparency at all times. The HR Leadership periodically evaluates the people policies to keep them relevant to changing regulatory and market requirements.
An Ethics and Compliance Task Force (ECTF) is in place to oversee and monitor the implementation of ethical business practices within Reliance. All complaints related to ethics, noncompliance and violations of the Company’s Code of Conduct received by ECTF are reviewed and reported to the Audit Committee every quarter. Reliance has proactively taken measures to combat bribery and corruption. The Company has established a robust Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS) as an additional pillar to support existing governance mechanisms. ABMS is a systematic framework of policy and processes set up by Reliance to help prevent, detect and respond to bribery risks.
The Company has mandatory e-learning courses to help employees understand the norms required to work in a safe, compliant and ethical manner through the ABMS system. The learning module sensitises employees about the concept of bribery, how it happens, and its various types, causes, and effects. The module helps recognise red flags indicating bribery, advises about overcoming bribery, and explains the link between ABMS and Reliance’s Code of Conduct. The module also emphasises the importance of ABMS violation reporting. It highlights Reliance’s expectations from employees and business associates in the context of its Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption (ABAC) policy.
To benchmark itself against the best in class, Reliance has adopted the ISO 37001:2016 standards for its ABMS.
Grievance Redressal Mechanisms
Employees and other stakeholders are required to report actual or suspected violations of applicable laws and regulations and the Code of Conduct.
Reliance has established a robust mechanism through a Vigil Mechanism and Whistle-blower Policy for reporting and handling of such violations, termed as ‘Reportable Matters’. Under this policy, the employees are encouraged to report any such violations without fear of retaliation. For easy access, the Vigil Mechanism and Whistle-blower Policy is hosted on the website of the Company. The whistle-blower can make a protected disclosure either to the Ethics and Compliance Task Force or directly to the Audit Committee via e-mail, telephone or letter without fear of any reprisal.
WAY FORWARD
Reliance is leading the movement to build the next generation of leaders who will significantly contribute to the advancement of India and the world. The Company aspires to advance its internal talent management system to accelerate the development of employees while ensuring their overall emotional and physical wellbeing. Reliance will embed the principles of diversity and inclusion deeper into its core strategic intent and across its operations and value chain. Implementing globally benchmarked Health, Safety and Environment practices will continue to be a critical focus for the Company.
The Company has outlined ten tenets to develop institutional leadership capacity and intends to relentlessly nurture human capital by significantly focusing on identified parameters. The Company places the greatest value on the power of human thought and compassion and will strive to maintain this culture to deliver sustainable and consistent value to its stakeholders and others.