BALCO welcomes seven transgender professionals into its workforce

The Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO), India's iconic Aluminium producer, has welcomed seven transgender professionals into its workforce.

The company became the first in Chhattisgarh to induct LGBTQIA+ employees, when it hired four transgender employees for operating forklifts at its Cast House in March this year.

Recently, BALCO inducted three more transgender employees, this time in its security function.

With a strong resolve to foster a culture of diversity and inclusivity at the workplace, BALCO has become one of the few manufacturing companies in India to open its doors to members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

A milestone in BALCO's journey of diversity and inclusivity, the induction of transgender employees was preceded by gender-sensitization workshops for the entire workforce of the company, with respect to their social and psychological challenges, proper code of conduct and ways of working to build a cohesive and encouraging environment for all.

Apart from this, the company has also carried out required infrastructural augmentations to ensure that the new hires feel comfortable, welcomed and have a sense of belongingness with the team.

The members have been given the responsibility of working in the plant after due process of checking the eligibility criteria. Their joining has been followed by structured safety training, equal opportunity training sessions, shop floor and technical training in line with our best people practices approach.

Expressing his views about the hiring of transgender employees, Abhijit Pati, CEO and Director of BALCO, said, "Vedanta prides itself on being a merit-first organization, and merit is gender-agnostic. Under the guidance of our Chairman, Anil Agarwal, BALCO is leaving no stone unturned in tapping the potential of India's human capital. We have welcomed seven transgender members into our family, in a milestone moment along our journey of making our workplace more inclusive and diverse. BALCO is committed to transforming its workplace for the good of the company, our people, and the country at large. We have bolstered our efforts towards introducing a social change by creating an environment of inclusivity, non-discrimination and equal opportunities for all."

In response, some of the company's transgender hires, who are manning forklift operations, shared their personal experiences.

"It has been over a month since my joining the BALCO family and I feel really great to work here. The workplace environment is extremely helpful and supportive and is playing a crucial role in the enhancement of my skillset," Bhawani Rathia, the company's transgender hires.

"I am extremely thankful to BALCO management for the opportunity and for giving us a platform where we can demonstrate our potential and learn to grow further," added Aisha Vishwakarma.

Roopa Kurrey believes that the company is playing a significant role in bringing people from transgender communities to the mainstream by providing them employment opportunities.

Kanishka Sona has been having a wonderful learning experience. She said, "We are being given exposure to different departments in BALCO under our training module. This is not only helping us in our primary induction procedure but is also helping us to understand the larger perspective of business operations."

( With inputs from ANI )