Help People To Help Themselves

EID Parry has always believed in building competitive advantage through its people. The story goes back to 1992 when a HR Meet was held in Pondicherry where a need was felt to look at things in a different perspective. And people included not the employees alone but their family and the society. Hence was born the vision
'Employee... Employee and Beyond.

Industrial Social Work Intervention was initiated in Nellikuppam in 1995 with this vision This initiative gradually spread to the other two units - Pugalur and Pettavaithalai also.

Aim
The aim of this intervention is to enhance the Quality of life of Employees, their families and promote a positive work culture.

Groundwork: At each location, the initial phase is spent in under-standing the place and the people - the culture and practices, beliefs, problems and issues.

At Nellikuppam

It was found that the real factors inhibiting growth were the employees' Mindsets, Attitudes, Belief Systems, Cultural Influences. Before any action could be initiated, the first year was devoted to confidence building exercises.

General programs like the Quality of Life provided interaction with the families and the initial penetration started.

Many issues were related to a large extent to the type of industry. Sugar cane workers are employed only during a part of the year when cane is crushed and at other times they earn only a meagre retainer allowance. Frustration leads to vices like drinking, smoking & borrowing Attitudinal and behavioural training was given to handle this.

Exposure to the outside world was minimal as there were third/fourth generation workers in Parry. Mindsets were changed with programs and counselling on higher education for employees' children. Now there are children of employees even going abroad and studying, doing engineering, medicine etc.. Another programme that was conducted was the Pre-retirement training.

Program Paradigm Shift - this focused on coping with changes that have taken place in the factory with relation to the Quality standards, manner of functioning etc. Resistance to change was a major area that had to be addressed.

Training for Spouses - was seen to be an imperative need. This 2 day program is being done regularly where the spouses are made aware of their responsibility in financial management, child rearing etc.

For Children
Workshops on Personality development, career guidance and counselling have been initiated. Self Employment opportunities are also touched upon. Summer Workshops and Children's. Day Cel,ebrations are held regularly.

Another unique program is the Human Value Action Group Programme. This addresses the dignity issues that arise in the workplace. The social workers have interaction with the involved persons and try to initiate a dialogue and solve the problem.

Employee Driven Initiative
A Street Theatre team has been formed comprising of workmen whose main purpose is to create an awareness among the workforce about the various new interventions implemented by the company and also touch on social issues like alcoholism, absenteeism, indebtedness, etc. The Street Theatre Group did a program for AIR on Rain Harvesting.

Future Vision at Nellikuppam
Building conducive work and family environment by enabling employees to develop into competent and self reliant individuals.

At Pugalur

Initial studies revealed that the employees were very hardworking but there were relationship issues to be addressed within the family.

Hence the objective was to build a healthy relationship both within the family and at the workplace. Some of the focus areas identified were Youth development, Relationship building, Balancing family and work life, Child rearing practices etc.

For the Employees
Counselling and case study were carried out to help employees face issues/problems with an open mind. A focused Group Discussion for Cane Sub Inspectors was also conducted.

For the Employees & Spouses: Similar to Nellikuppam, programs were conducted on Quality of Life, called 'Healthy Relationship' addressing the issue of relationships in this belt.

For the Spouses
Programs were conducted on domestic safety. A need was felt by the spouses to learn spoken English to help educate their children and a special program was formulated for this.

The seasonal nature of the industry made it imperative to supplement the seasonal income. Having a tie-up with the Tamilnadu Women's Corporation and two non-government units, helped conduct mass awareness programs about self help groups. As a result two self help groups were formed by the employees' spouses involving 28 women. One group has entered the food sector by preparing and selling snacks while the other does rental business i.e. renting out furniture, jewellery etc.

For the Children
Value education was given primary importance. The objective was to bring up these 'Parry Kids', as they are called, to be role models of the future generations, Various skills were identified. To encourage the 'WE' feeling these children were asked to paint a picture of size 9 ft. x 12 ft. on the topic 'Unity is Strength'.

Sunshine camps were organised during holidays and a visit to the orphanage, under a programme named 'Reach Out' proved an enlightening experience for the children.

At Pettavaithalai

Initiation of social work was started in 2000 with the first step being towards building trust. Informal chats were held with the workers and visits were made to their families.

For the Employees
Spoken English sessions were held to improve their communication skills. Stress Management, Personal effectiveness were some of the other programs conducted for the employees. These sessions helped in considerably reducing the menace of absenteeism.

To tackle issues on smoking and drinking among employees, sessions were conducted by those who had got over these vices, lending authenticity to their talk.

For the Spouses
Confidence building exercises among the spouses assured them that they too could playa vital role in solving the problems faced by the husband or the family. Programs on Quality of Life, Parenting, Family Budgeting etc were conducted with exposure to self help groups also.

For the Children
Other than encouraging children in their varied skills the children participated in Cleanliness drives. They were also initiated into the world of computers.