Tata Steel Company chooses ‘pride over prejudice’ and enables its LGBTQ+ employees to avail HR benefits

This Monday morning came with a news which hailed and sung the songs of inclusivity. Tata Steel announced their new HR policy which now will enable its employees from the LGBTQ+ community to declare their partners and avail benefits deemed permissible under the law.

Moving towards the vision of providing equal opportunity, the company will work towards creating a diverse workforce. The idea is to enable respect and embrace the differences which co-exist amongst the individuals. This step is being considered to be one of the major steps towards the inclusion policy.

Tata Group Company redefine the term ‘spouse’ in their policies and broadening the scope to cover employees who have same-sex partners. Preeti D’mello, who is the TCS global diversity head pointed out that the policy was formalized last week. The revised policy will now cover up to 50% cost of gender reassignment surgery under the health insurance policy. Discussing the core values, D’mello said, “We believe in building an organization where everyone feels included, involved and respected. We want to make the ecosystem fare and conducive for all.”

Decriminalization of Section 377, was the first step towards creating an LGBTQ+ inclusive society, it is important that the employee benefits from these changes and avail services related to medical, insurance, leave policies.

Tata Steel joined companies like Citibank, Capgemini India, Accenture and others who came forward to extend medical cover to same-sex partners. Practicing the fair policy, will benefit the business front of the company. It is observed that LGBTQ+ inclusive companies tend to generate more revenues and become more globalized. The implementation of the policies will also inspire other companies in India to make similar changes.