New Delhi, 06th July 2023: Steel conglomerate Tata Steel had fired 38 employees for misbehaviour in the previous fiscal year, according to Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran who revealed the information during the company’s annual shareholder meeting.
Chandrasekaran said, “We have taken action against 38 people who have been dismissed by the company. Thirty-five were fired for unacceptable practices bordering on ethical issues and three for sexual misconduct.”
The Chairman of the Tata Group stated that the corporation was made aware of these errors after receiving many whistleblower reports about these employees.
He stated, “We received 875 complaints last fiscal, and 158 were related to whistleblowers, 48 were regarding safety and 669 on HR and other behavioural issues.”
During the meeting the Chairman also encouraged people to speak up and report inappropriate conduct. He said, “Employee can express his or her concerns. It could be on sexual harassment or a practice they noticed at the company. We are encouraging people to record their grievances.”
Chandrasekaran further said, “One of the things that gets discussed in all our companies, not only in Tata Steel, is safety. Our goal is to achieve zero fatality across the group. One action we have taken is that every board meeting starts with a safety update.”
Adding he commented, “Second is that we have created a grouping, where CEOs of all top companies have been brought together to drive zero fatality across businesses. This has been in function for the past two years.”
In recent weeks, a bribe for jobs scam purportedly worth over Rs 100 crores was unearthed at Tata Consultancy Services, another Tata group company.
A company whistleblower revealed to the CEO and COO that the worldwide head of RMG, ES Chakravarthy, and other top HR executives had been taking commissions from recruiting agencies in exchange for jobs at the IT services company.
The corporation has fired over six officials who were implicated in the scheme. Following the discovery of the problem, the IT giant also suspended six staffing firms.
During the general meeting last week Chandrasekaran also said, “We found six employees who did not follow the ethical conduct and while we cannot quantify what favours they got, they suddenly behaved in a way that favoured certain firms. So, we have banned six such employees and six Business Associate (BA) companies. Investigation is pending on three more employees.”
