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Guiding Principles

• ITC believes that a diverse workforce contributes to rich discourse, promotes holistic perspectives, fosters creative solutions, and is integral to serving its customers better while creating value for its stakeholders.
• Progressing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at ITC is a systemic and ongoing endeavour. Through its policies, systems, and actions, ITC promotes diversity and enables an inclusive climate. Employees and business associates are encouraged to be authentic, share views freely, value differences, and treat each other with humanness and dignity.
• Merit and competence are fundamental to the dynamism and vitality of the enterprise. ITC offers equal opportunity based on performance and ability, in selection, progression, rewards, benefits, development, and employment.
• ITC is dedicated to maintaining a workplace free from harassment or discrimination based on caste, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, colour, ancestry, marital status or affiliation with a political, religious or union organization or majority / minority group. ITC recognizes that certain groups may face social or cultural hurdles in achieving their full potential. Where needed, ITC will undertake supportive actions to offset such difficulties in the spirit of equity at the workplace.

Scope

• These guiding principles apply to all employees and teams and reflect in engagements with business associates, communities and other stakeholders.Systems, Policies and Practices
• Employees are encouraged to contribute views and perspectives and these are considered on the strength and power of the ideas alone. Forums such as Task Forces, Town Halls by Leaders, structured small group interactions, ideation contests and reviews by leaders are some amongst many opportunities available for contributing ideas and engaging in dialogue.
• Performance and ability are the foundation for reward decisions. This is reflected through objective and outcome-based assessment systems. Talent decisions such as selection, progression, development and positioning are founded on competencies, and their expression in the conduct of business.
• Systems to record and assess employee voice and feedback are vital to fostering and reinforcing an inclusive workplace. Periodic engagement surveys, skip-level career and performance conversations, 360-degree feedback, grievance redressal systems and exit interviews provide insights that enable continuous improvement and redressal measures, where needed.
• Apart from an inclusive workplace, Company managed residential communities for employees at several locations, supported by social and recreational opportunities, provide a powerful means of workforce integration, reinforcing a culture of inclusion and fellowship.
• The work from home policy, applicable to roles where such arrangements are feasible, helps employees balance their professional and personal commitments.
• ITC is committed to a workplace free of harassment, including sexual harassment at the workplace, and has zero tolerance for such unacceptable conduct. ITC encourages reporting of any harassment concerns and is responsive to complaints about harassment or other unwelcome or offensive conduct. Committees have been constituted across locations to enquire into complaints of sexual harassment and to recommend appropriate action, wherever required. Necessary disclosures in relation to the sexual harassment complaints received and redressal thereof are provided in the Report and Accounts of the Company.

As part of its commitment to enhancing diversity, ITC places particular emphasis on representation and inclusion of women and the differently abled persons. This is sought to be accomplished systematically, through concerted actions, some of which are summarized below:

Representation

• ITC’s talent sourcing strategies are configured to enhance its diversity quotient. The Company assesses sources continuously, scrutinizes the available talent pool and consistently deploys inclusive hiring principles and practices to meet its diversity goals. This includes initiatives and efforts to enhance representation of women in the selection pool, collaborating with external partners to recruit differently abled persons, and where feasible, encouraging their deployment with business associates across the value chain.
• ITC invests in bespoke and ready to deploy capability programmes that support women achieve their full potential. Such interventions provide the thrust, as ITC strives to meet representation milestones across responsibility levels.

Inclusion & Enablement

• To enhance women participation in the workforce and realization of their full potential, ITC offers comprehensive institutional support. This includes policies which enable greater flexibility such as off-site or alternate location working, extended child care leave and return to work programme, and child and caregiver travel support. Infrastructure provisions include special accommodation arrangements for women, secure transport and access to child care facilities at or near the workplace. ITC undertakes periodic infrastructure reviews and audits and differently abled persons are supported with the necessary infrastructure to help them discharge their responsibilities. ITC undertakes various wellbeing programmes focussed on the unique needs of women.
• ITC deploys various interventions and refreshes them periodically to reinforce the tenets of inclusive practices and behaviours in work teams. The Company endeavours to tackle implicit biases, if any, through a combination of persuasive campaigns and training programs which sensitize employees on such biases, and effective means to counter them.Commitment & Assurance
• Promotion of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion receives continuous focus and sponsorship from leadership, with the Businesses and Functions actively committed to making progress. Diversity & Inclusion goals and initiatives, particularly those pertaining to women and differently abled persons, are integrated with Human Resource Plans across Businesses.
• As a means of continuous listening and initiating proactive actions, Employee Resource Groups (ERG) / Diversity Councils are in place across Businesses. ERGs are empowered to periodically review Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, gather feedback and share suggestions with Business leadership teams.
• As a testimony to ITC’s commitment, and to ensure that the Company keeps making progress, various measures relating to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, including feedback from employees, are tracked and remedial actions taken, where required.
• As a means of positive reinforcement, ITC celebrates success stories, promotes thematic events and recognizes organizational units making progress.