First experience

It was the year 1998. I was in my first job with Essar Group in Mumbai. As part of my HR portfolio, there was a company called Essar Agrotech,which had a horticulture farm near Lonavla near Mumbai. I remember my first visit-by train and then an open jeep, amidst the greeery and waterfalls!It was like being on an excursion.Anyway, the farm was as exciting with the huge greenhouses and the process for segregating, cutting and packing the roses for export.Having studied the processes in my graduate studies, I was excited by seeing them in reality.

After meeting all employees and visiting the farm, our office head took me and my colleague to a school which was a residential school for the children of the villages nearby. I was quite impressed by the school, the teachers, the children and the facilities...and that day there was a function (with a cricket match) and with us from Essar as the chief guest handing out the prizes to children.I was wondering why we were being treated so well and then I was told by our office head that Essar Group is sponsoring and managing the school for the children for a few years now- from the edifice, to the teachers, food, clothes etc.That was my first introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility, and how it has a direct impact on the people aimed to benefit by it.I saw it all in action and saw it working well !!

My respect for the organisation (Essar) went up 5 notches that day.In my career, when I came across more and more of these activities, I gravitated naturally towards them, as my first experience was very positive. Ofcourse, there are many reasons which can be attributed to the generosity of corporates,my positive first experience overshadows that reasoning....and I fully subscribe to the views of candidates /employees who in the surveys about why would they join an organiation, give some weightage to Corporate Social Responsibility.