On National Security Day, Vedanta Aluminium has recruited seven transgender professionals for the security function of its plant at Jharsuguda, Odisha, which is also one of the world’s largest aluminium smelters. The seven employees Aarunita Payasingh, Aarohi Sharma, Sandhya Yadav, Siddhi Nage, Khushi Dhruv, Pavitra and Roma Dhruw, will join the company’s formidable security team and will be responsible for ensuring strict round-the-clock security of the assets and workforce. This is the second hiring of LGBTQIA+ professionals at Vedanta Aluminium, with the previous recruits working at the company’s Chhattisgarh-based subsidiary, BALCO, in security and material handling functions.
With 14 transgender employees, Vedanta Aluminium is now amongst the handful of manufacturing companies in India and the world to have LGBTQIA+ employees in core operations. To build a diverse workforce, the company has been working extensively towards attracting high-potential women and LGBTQIA+ professionals to join its ranks.
To ease their transition from the fringes of society to smart manufacturing plants, and help them evolve from semi-skilled people into professionals, a three-pronged approach has been adopted, which includes; identification of trans people with minimum required skills for working in a manufacturing industry by conducting skill mapping studies. Extensive training programmes for the recruits, aimed at honing the required skill sets, including soft-skills and business knowledge. Building an empathetic and inclusive environment by conducting gender-sensitisation sessions for its workforce, with respect to the social and psychological challenges of trans people, proper code of conduct and ways of working to build a cohesive and encouraging environment for all. This also includes ensuring required infrastructural augmentations.
Going forward, the company intends to recruit more employees, both directly and indirectly through its business partners, from the LGBTQIA+ community to further increase the diversity of its workforce.
Rahul Sharma, CEO, Vedanta Limited – Aluminium Business highlighted that their markets, customers and businesses are diverse and complex. To match that, the company believes in recruiting people with diverse experiences, skills, and education so that the business strategies they formulate, the problems they solve, and the innovations they make are correspondingly well-rounded. The ultimate objective is to build a wholesome culture that makes the employees and partners feel welcomed, encouraged and empowered to deliver to the best of their potential.