M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd., a highly technology-oriented PSU, was established soon after India gained independence, with its headquarters situated in Mumbai. As the company grew in size as well as production capacity, it established its units across the country and became a source of socio-economic development wherever the units were set up.
In the course, a factory of M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd. was established in the year 1980 in an economically and socially developing area, but a politically sensitive constituency, primarily with a development-oriented mandate of the Government of India.
The factory presently has a staff strength of around 700 employees, comprising 250 white-collared staff and 450 blue-collar staff, with another 400 contractual labour engaged for carrying out non-core functions.
The factory is located in the middle of an integrated township with state-of-the-art infrastructure and amenities. Being located at a remote place with no public amenities like public transport, schools, hospitals, and recreation centres outside the factory, life for the employees and their family members was quite challenging, particularly during medical emergencies. However, the Management of M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd. took all possible measures to make the life of its employees and their family members comfortable and enjoyable by creating all these facilities within the township and to ensure that, posting to this location would not be considered as a punishment per se, for the employees.
M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd.’s policies are framed by its Corporate Office, which are uniformly implemented in all the Factories and Offices across the country. One of the welfare measures available in the factory under this study was running buses from the township, connecting 04 Railway Stations, Shopping Complexes located around 35 kms. away and weekend trips to the nearest Metropolitan City, which was around 150 kms. The Bus service was a dire necessity way back in the 1980s and was literally a source of lifeline for the Township residents. Over the years, the Bus service was also availed by the residents. A nominal charge was levied for availing of the service. The Management funded the expenditure, which over the years kept increasing due to an increase in the price of fuel, maintenance charges, etc. However, the amount paid by the Employees for availing the bus facility remained unchanged.
Moving over to the year 2019, when the situation had changed drastically, with employees owning bikes and cars, the advent of online services like Amazon and Flipkart in place, basic infrastructure made available by the local administration, the practice of maintaining the bus service continued unabated, although the purpose with which this facility was set up was not required anymore.
Like all other companies, M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd. too had to adopt several financial austerity measures due to dwindling order book position and global recession in its line of business. Since the inception of the factory, due to its remote location and the absence of proper medical facilities in the vicinity, the employees had been requesting the Management to provide an Ambulance with an advanced life support system. The need for an ALS Ambulance was genuine since, in critical cases, patients had to be shifted to Hospitals located in the city, which was around 150 kms. afar. The availability of an ALS Ambulance with on-board Paramedical Staff could provide the required medical assistance to the patient while in transit.
However, due to various reasons, M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd. could not arrange for an ALS Ambulance. This, however, proved fatal in a few cases wherein patients succumbed while being shifted to super- speciality hospitals in the nearby cities.
M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd. had a corporate policy of annual transfers wherein Executives and non-Executives were transferred across different locations on account of organisational requirements as well as on personal requests. During the year 2018, a new HR Head was posted. On assumption of charge and during the course of his interaction with various stakeholders both within the Factory as well as the local administration, one common request was the need for an ALS Ambulance with an on-board Paramedical Team. On consultation with the HR Team as well as the in-house Medical Team, it was ascertained that, while procurement of an Ambulance with advanced life support systems was not an issue, the availability of dedicated Paramedical Staff and maintenance of the Ambulance was not feasible, given the remote location of the Factory. It was also ascertained that, during the past 5 years, there have been around 20 critical cases wherein the patients were required to be shifted to super-speciality hospitals in the neighboring cities and out of the 20 cases, 4 patients were declared brought dead by the hospitals concerned.
The Factory Township, wherein 100% of the employees resided, majority of them along with their family, which in certain cases, included aged Parents, was supported by a Medical Unit comprising 05 Doctors and a Team of around 15 para-medical staff. There was no in patient medical facility in the Medical Centre. Only first-aid services were extended to the patients, including residents of the nearby areas, as a welfare and philanthropic endeavour of M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd.
An ALS Ambulance was a dire necessity, but the employees of M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd. were accustomed to managing without the same. However, the reality was that, due to the non-availability of the Ambulance and in the absence of a serious and concerted effort to explore alternative ways and means of getting an ALS Ambulance along with a Paramedical Team, there was no option left for the employees and their Family Members other than to live with the problem, albeit a life-threatening situation.
It was a ritual for the Recognised Union and Officers’ Association to include the requirement of an ALS Ambulance with a Paramedical Team in their Agenda points whenever any Senior Official from the Corporate Office visited the Factory. During discussions with the Senior Officials, the task of identifying ways and means of positioning the Ambulance was “ritually” entrusted to the HR and Medical Team. Based on the discussions the new HR Head had with various stakeholders within M/s Sunny Enterprises and the district Administration, like the District Chief Medical Officer of Health, a few Government Hospital Staff located in the vicinity, he took up this long-pending agenda point as his KRA to be achieved during the next 12 months. A bold and daunting task, but a much-awaited, sincere and concerted attempt to address a critical and long-pending assignment.
He assigned the responsibility to one of his agile and enthusiastic HR Officers to identify whether an ALS ambulance, along with Paramedics, could be hired from any of the nearby cities. The HR Officer sought 10-15 days’ time to survey the market in the nearby cities. He could finally identify the 01 Agency located around 150 kms. away from the Factory, which was willing to render the required Ambulance service. The Agency was invited to visit the site, discuss and understand the requirements. Having done so, they shared their proposal with the HR Team and Medical Team. Apart from the financial implications, the remaining aspects suited the requirements of M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd.
The matter was taken up with the Finance Department and the Unit Head, and in principle, all were on board to hire the services after following the due commercial procedure. However, the cost part was what needed to be sorted out. The HR Head took the lead to identify the scope for curtailing expenditure from some other area. He invited the Union and Officers’ Association and shared the facts and urged them to revert within a week with proposals for diverting funds from some welfare facilities that were not statutory in nature. Both the Bodies were reluctant to curtail any on-going welfare measures to generate funds for meeting medical emergency, citing reasons like, medical is a statutory requirement in the absence of ESI facilities, remote location of the Factory, M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd being a profit-making Company, etc.
After detailed deliberations and on a mutual agreement of the fact that, positioning an ALS Ambulance was of paramount importance, a requirement existing since the inception of the Factory, the HR Head impressed upon the Union and Association to identify possible sources from where funds could be diverted for hiring of Ambulance. The approximate expenditure was Rs. 2.00 lakhs per month, which was exclusive of providing rent-free accommodation to the 05 Staff to be positioned by the Vendor for operating the Ambulance. The HR Head himself started to analyse probable sources from where funds could be arranged.
The bus facility being provided by the Management caught his attention. He started collecting details of its utilisation, beneficiaries, financial implications, and its relevance in the present context, considering the fact that this facility was in vogue since the inception of the Factory in the year 1980. He asked the Union also to review the utility of continuing the bus facility.
Records showed that, presently, none of the permanent employees of the Company was availing the bus facility. Only contract labourers, vendors, and residents were utilising the facility, and the Management ended up paying around Rs. 1.20 lakhs per month to run 05 buses on a daily basis. In spite of stiff resistance from the Union, the HR Head decided to go ahead. He issued notice to the Travel Agent in accordance with the Work Order to shorten the contract in the next 03 months. Immediately on receipt of the notice of short closure, there was opposition from the Contract Labourers and residents who were using the bus facility, free of cost, for the past several years. It was evident that the travel agent was instrumental in triggering the passengers to agitate since this contract was a substantial source of earnings for him. The Union and Officers’ Association were in a “Catch – 22” situation. The HR Head made it clear that, if they did not allow him to discontinue the bus facility and, in lieu thereof, go ahead with hiring of ALS Ambulance, the Union and Association would henceforth not raise this requirement of ambulance as an Agenda point in any of their meetings. The writing on the wall was clear.
Commercial procedure was initiated to terminate the contract for hiring of buses and to hire ALS Ambulance.
Over the next few days, the HR Head started receiving support from the permanent employees and their Family Members in anticipation of the Ambulance arriving in their premises. Finally, the ambulance, along with a Team of 05 Members were put into service among lots of fanfare and traditional rituals.
A long-pending, genuine requirement that never got the due weight age and concerted attempts was finally ensured by the Management of M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd.
The HR Head shared that discontinuation of the bus facility, which ceased to serve the purpose for which this facility was set up way back in the 1980s, was equally important to him as was the provision of an ALS Ambulance.
The District Administration, District Chief of M&H and Gram Pradhan were all praises for M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd. for taking this step. However, they requested the HR Head to reconsider the resumption of the bus service since the local population, over the years, had become dependent on the services. The HR Head, in turn, shared that the services of the ALS Ambulance could be extended to critical cases from the local population based on the recommendation of the District CoMH, subject to giving priority to the requirements of M/s Sunny Enterprises Ltd.
Key takeaways –
- Ability to identify the areas of concern and cull out the areas of key concern is the hallmark of a seasoned and mature HR Leader.
- We keep hearing about “out of the box thinking”. This case study aptly brings out an instance where “out of the box thinking” helped address a long-pending issue.
- Trade-offs are required and will get due support provided they are taken up with an objective purpose.
- It is possible to get stakeholder support even in the wake of stiff resistance, provided proper homework is done.
Credibility and Trustworthiness – 02 evergreen attributes of a Leader.
