Recently, Jamsetji Tata, founder of Tata Group, topped the EdelGive Hurun Philanthropist of the Century list, surpassing Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. Tata Group has a history of more than 150 years. Its subsidiary Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has entered the Chinese market since 2002 and has always adhered to the values of its founder and is committed to fulfilling its mission of giving back to society. Tencent Video interviewed Mr. Suneet Puri, President of Tata Consultancy China, and Ms. Zhang Hong, Head of CSR, to gain an in-depth understanding of the social responsibility concept and development status of Tata Consultancy China.
According to Suneet Puri, in China, Tata Consulting's public welfare focuses include supporting young talents, women's rights, and promoting equality in science and technology education. Especially in education, domestic educational resources are still unbalanced. Schools in some developing regions are far inferior to those in developed areas of big cities in terms of teaching materials and education quality. Tata Consulting has been committed to providing high-quality education for children growing up in remote areas. In rural areas of Gansu and other provinces, Tata Consulting provides local students with support in both teachers and hardware facilities. In 2020, Tata Consulting won the Best CSR Brand of the Year Award from the CSR China Education Award Organizing Committee.
Tata Consulting's goal: to build a better society
Regarding the original intention of doing charity, Suneet Puri explained that doing charity is the corporate philosophy inherited by the Tata Group. When Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group, established the group, he firmly believed that all companies should be created for the benefit of society. As part of the Tata Group, Tata Consulting has long been committed to the purpose of giving wealth back to society. "Giving back to society is one of Tata Consulting's corporate missions. No matter which country in the world we do business in, we are part of the local community, and we have an obligation to remember our roots and give back to society. We advocate providing help to society to the best of our ability, and believe that these actions will bring a better future for local communities and the entire planet." Suneet Puri said.
Suneet Puri believes that there is a very close connection between corporate social welfare and business goals. For example, Tata Consulting is a technology company. We are now enabling children in remote areas to enjoy a good STEM education, so that more talents will participate in the digital revolution currently taking place in China and around the world. Digital transformation is also the business goal that Tata Consulting has been promoting.
Focus on public welfare education and promote the development of environment, health and poverty alleviation
Tata Consulting's corporate social responsibility projects are highly flexible and can provide strong short-term support as well as support long-term projects. In the education projects in China, Tata Consulting donated digital classrooms to schools in remote areas, built libraries for schools, and purchased new teaching facilities; TCS China employees also volunteered to educate students in these schools on STEM and art subjects. In order to inspire a new generation of innovation and technological awareness, TCS China will also launch the GoIT project for schools in first- and second-tier cities. By spreading internationally leading design thinking and programming methods to students, students are given practical problem-solving experience.
In addition to education, Tata Consulting also helps children with cleft lip in rural areas of China organize cleft lip surgery every year, and regularly organizes employees to carry out public welfare activities such as scenic area cleaning and beach cleaning to protect the environment. At the same time, Tata Consulting also actively participates in responding to short-term public health outbreaks.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many hospitals’ blood banks were in urgent need. Tata Consulting responded quickly, partnered with charitable organizations and helped organize blood donation camps. At the same time, TCS China also launched a matching donation program within the company, and donated cash and materials to the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation together with its employees, creating a safer learning environment for more than 2,300 students in 46 schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multi-party cooperation and systematic evaluation to ensure sustainable and effective public welfare projects
Tata Consulting collaborates with well-known organizations in every field, including non-profit organizations such as Teach China 2.0, Library Project and Operation Smile, as well as Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group. Among them, 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by charitable trusts to support the improvement of education, health, people's livelihood, art and culture in developing countries. The solid partnership not only deepens the good atmosphere of community care, but also helps TCS China's corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects develop in an innovative, healthy and sustainable way.
Ms. Zhang Hong said that in terms of evaluating effectiveness, Tata Consulting conducts quantitative and qualitative assessments both internally and externally. For example, for public welfare teaching projects, the company will conduct internal surveys on the retention rate, recommendation rate, and satisfaction of employees participating in public welfare projects; externally, the company will conduct surveys on the quality of courses and students' preference for courses through external partners. In addition, quantitative indicators such as course duration and number of students covered are also within the reference range. Tata Consulting ensures the stability and long-term development of public welfare projects through evaluations in various aspects and dimensions.
Mobilize employees to make corporate charity more than just a corporate level
As the president of China, Suneet Puri attaches great importance to his active role in public welfare projects. He believes that he is one of the catalysts for promoting public welfare projects. He actively encourages employees to participate in public welfare projects by taking responsibility and providing resources. He also leads the team to organically combine corporate public welfare with employee team-building activities, and encourages employees to participate in long-term sustainable development projects through the establishment of internal forums, sharing stories, fundraising + company matching donations, and participating in teaching. For example, in the recent rural primary school dream distance education classroom project, TCS employees volunteered to undertake teaching and research work, and the company also funded the establishment of two computer laboratories to improve the teaching quality and environment in remote areas in all aspects.
Ms. Zhang Hong shared that during a volunteer teaching activity, the volunteer teachers from TCS were surprised to find that students in remote areas had never heard of museums, so she took the initiative to collect and organize courseware, and gave students museum-themed lectures, telling them what museums are and what they can see in museums... These volunteer teachers are like a window, through which students see a bigger world. By participating in the public welfare volunteer teaching projects organized by the company, many employees began to be more grateful for the people and things they have, and to help the disadvantaged groups as much as possible.
Remember the source of water and carry out social welfare to the end
When talking about the future plans for corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects in China, Suneet Puri said: "We want to continue to focus on the field of education. At present, there are still many schools in rural areas whose infrastructure and education quality are far inferior to those in cities. In the next 5-10 years, we will strive to cover TCS's education charity projects to more schools in remote areas. Of course, if the group or employees have new initiatives, we will not hesitate to join and support them."
During the interview, Suneet Puri introduced that a colleague in the Human Resources Department of Tata Consulting China was a beneficiary of the distance education project. It was the construction of the distance education classroom that allowed this girl from the countryside to receive advanced education from the city, successfully enter her ideal university and eventually stay in the big city to develop. This example made Suneet Puri more determined to help and support initiatives that benefit schools and students in these remote areas.
Thanks to its corporate culture of ethics and integrity, Tata Group companies have attracted many excellent and outstanding employees around the world. Among them, Tata Consulting has more than 480,000 employees worldwide. By encouraging employees to participate in public welfare projects and reserving the company's net profits for charity projects, Tata Consulting is expanding social welfare activities to every corner of the world. It is reported that for every $1 returned to shareholders by Tata Consulting, $0.47 returns to the community, which reflects TCS's unique corporate values.
TCS Media Contact
China
Email: lu.you@tcs.com
Tel: 021-38911639
