2019 Duty of Care Award: Aditya Birla Group wins the remote resilience award

Aditya Birla Group, a USD 48.3 billion corporations is in the League of Fortune 500 companies, bagged the remote resilience award at the 2019 Duty of Care Awards hosted by International SOS in Shanghai. Anchored by an extraordinary work force of over 120,000 employees, belonging to 42 nationalities in 35 countries. Aditya Birla Group Code Red is the company’s Emergency Support & Travel, Medical & Security Risk Management initiative, incorporating crisis management group wide. This programme is an amalgamation of internal & external partnerships with a trained network of employees, a dedicated 24x7 Assistance Centre and technology.

The Duty of Care Awards are organised to celebrate and acknowledge the best practices in workforce health and safety around the globe. The Awards took place following the Duty of Care Summit, hosted by the International SOS Foundation, the only global conference tailored to professionals responsible for the health and safety of mobile employees.

The world’s leading stakeholders responsible for protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of their people gathered for the Duty of Care Summit to share best practice and trends exploring the next generation of Duty of Care. Under this year’s theme of ‘Sustainable Futures, Superior Growth’ the awards honour and share best practices of organisations and individuals making a significant contribution to protecting their people while travelling or working remotely. Judges reviewed entries representing 28 sectors across 31 countries.

Mr. Subrato Sarkaar, President, Corporate Administration, ABMCPL, said “Our Chairman, Mr. K.M. Birla, has a vision for employee safety and security across our companies globally. Aligning with his vision, Aditya Birla Group’s dynamic program on Duty of Care - ABG Code Red has been designed to support and facilitate employees during medical, security and travel emergencies. Since its inception in Jan 2011, we have developed this program by keeping strong focus on technology and development of assistance centres and processes.”

Important elements of ABG Code Red program are travel risk management partners, the ABG employees who nominate themselves as volunteers to support their colleagues during an emergency and the technology platforms. We have pioneered the concept of employees as volunteers becoming an integral part of the system supporting their colleagues during an emergency.

The program is very effective and helpful for travelers, domestic or international, and for the employees who may get into crisis situations. ABG Code Red has done yeoman services during flood in Kerala in 2018 and Odisha in 2019”

Neeraj Balani, Managing Director, India, International SOS commented “It is indeed a pleasure to see an Indian multinational conglomerate leading with the award in the remote resilience category. Aditya Birla Group is demonstrating a clear commitment towards Duty of Care and we at International SOS are pleased to be able, to support their efforts at protecting their people. My heartiest congratulations to Mr. Subrato Sarkaar and his team to have nurtured this platform in the Aditya Birla Group and being recognised at a global level. With a large workforce in the country that is constantly on the move, it is imperative for Indian companies to come up with right policies and solutions, to ensure the safety of their employees for an efficient business and its continuity.”