At BALCO, our success relies on the strength and resilience of our human capital. BALCO’s operations necessitate specialised knowledge, for which we hire qualified technical, engineering and geological experts.
Furthermore, we foster a culture of safety, innovation and inclusivity, which facilitates the achievement of our organisational goals and encourages the personal and professional development of our workforce.
Total strength of BALCO
Employee engagement score
Diversity is maintained in hiring freshers
Our talent pool is our most valued stakeholder and our most differentiated asset. Their sincere efforts to enhance productivity and operational excellence lend us a competitive edge over our competitors. In the years ahead, we remain committed to leveraging our human capital as we continue to create sustainable value for all stakeholders.
We are actively implementing various employee engagement initiatives to build a collaborative workspace. Our employee-connect sessions helped our entire workforce interact with other co-workers from different departments across all organisational levels. Interestingly, these direct interactions with the top management informed our people about the Company’s strategic plans as well as the short and mediumterm objectives.
At BALCO, we are focusing on creating a transparent, unified and purpose-driven organisation. We also organising programmes to empower women and engage freshers through various activities in FY23. This year, our people also participated in several ESG workshops conducted by the organisation.
BALCO Talks are our own customised version of TED Talks. These provide a platform for the senior and middle management executives to share their diverse experiences and expertise with the young people of the organisation to help them better understand how to capitalise on emerging opportunities, both professionally and personally.
We firmly encourage open dialogue with our colleagues across all our business verticals. BALCO organises a CEO Town Hall every quarter, during which we clearly communicate our business agenda, quarterly targets, safety points to be adhered to and employee welfare initiatives in line with the Company’s core values and mission. We also publish our own e-newsletter, ‘BALCO Today,’ which covers the major activities and programmes organised across the plant.
This platform’s objective is to promote interaction with senior leaders. The project has made it easier for employees to share their job experiences, difficulties, and grievances directly with the seniors. Within BALCO, this campaign has covered more than 100 new employees and 50 laterals or transfers during FY23.
We conducted an outbound learning programme, ‘Explore — Ek Khoj 2023’, with 173 new members participating in it. It was organised outside the usual workplace. This aided in connecting with employees and engaging in numerous adventurous events, which facilitates employee grooming. Our human resources
We have launched this project to foster a culture of care and belonging at BALCO for all our people. This offers opportunities to strengthen internal relationships. In this drive each executive is mentoring and made responsible for ensuring safety of 10 to 15 business partner employees. The Coaching and safety culture enhancement are also covered under this programme, which drives the CARE culture for our people.
We have put forth an extensive effort to encourage our female employees, giving them the freedom to express their creativity and employ their innovative thinking to develop cutting-edge concepts. During International Women’s Day week, we hosted the iconic ‘Super 50,’ where all the senior management positions were filled by female employees for 2 days. This initiative raised awareness about the adoption of employee diversity in leadership positions by empowering the female workforce.
At BALCO, we implemented several conservation and ecosystem restoration initiatives by employing cutting-edge technologies, along with all our people across various operational locations. This educated our people to operate in an eco-friendly manner with zero plastic usage. The workshop also encouraged our people to identify the best practices for achieving the ESG objectives of our Company.
We are an organisation that sincerely cares for each of our employees. Recognising the efforts of our security personnel, chefs, fire fighters, housekeeping team and IT team for their back-end efforts and the crucial role they play in ensuring our success, we began implementing small yet significant initiatives to honour them. On Thanksgiving Day, we engaged with them to extend our sincere gratitude for their dedicated services.
Through various engagement activities our learning and development team has organised a team-building event to reinforce employee bonds beyond the workplace. Through this initiative, we have united all our employees under one roof and fostered a sense of belonging among the BALCO family. We have more than 80 additional staff covered under this programme till FY 2023.
We highly encourage our people to come up with innovative ideas. To achieve this, we conduct the ‘idea@ balco’ programme every month to solicit new and creative ideas from our people. An average of five ideas out of all the submitted ones are chosen and strategies are developed based on them.
We also regularly track employee satisfaction. These are conducted through the Great Place to Work (GPTW) and the Kincentric surveys. The management responds to survey responses regarding employee concerns and develops methods to address them as soon as possible.
To resolve our workers’ complaints regarding the workplace and corporate culture, we maintain an effective employee grievance redressal mechanism. Along with ensuring strict adherence to the POSH regulations, we also have awareness modules to train our personnel on the Code of Conduct, Business Ethics and Whistle-Blower Policy.
We focus on our hiring, sensitisation, talent retention and development processes, as well as pertinent infrastructure expenditures, as we strive to incorporate equity, inclusion and diversity. Our objective is to create a workplace that encourages a culture of trust, integrity, empathy and respect for every person.
During FY 2023, BALCO onboarded over 135 freshers from top-tier educational institutes across the country while maintaining 50% gender diversity during recruitment. The best candidates are shortlisted based on merit, skills were behavioural criteria appropriate for the job role.
We have also conducted a welldesigned cross-business induction process for management trainees to understand the aluminium sector. Towards this end, We undertook a targeted people practices approach by implementing skill development activities and team-building exercises with the guidance of senior management members to enhance productivity.
We have launched a flagship programme called the ‘Buddy System’ to inform the new employees about the rules, norms and culture of BALCO. Each of the new hires is assigned a buddy with whom they can interact, engage and learn more about the work environment. This ensures a smooth transition into the corporate culture as it helps foster a feeling of inclusion and belonging.
We have initiated the re-hiring of our top personnel and leaders into the organisation based on business needs. Through the Ghar Vapsi project, we are recognising the former regular and full-time employees whose skills and knowledge can be utilised in any critical job role, according to the re-hiring policy. During 2021, six highly competent employees were re-hired and during 2023, two such ex-employees were re-hired.
We are committed to respecting, safeguarding and upholding the human rights of all stakeholders in our value chain. All of our sites, along with the entire value chain, have structured channels for communicating grievances that are accessible to the rights holders.
Some of the policies implemented for employee well-being include:
The integrated digital HR platform, called ‘Darwin Box’, manages all the aspects of HR operations, including the recruitment process, employee performance, remuneration process and so on. BALCO has an LMS portal and a digital buddy system in place for training our people. The system assists our people and aids in the resolution of any workplace-related concerns.
cBALCO has launched its first mobile app for Employees Provident Fund Statement View, enabling employees to view and manage their Provident Fund accounts with just a single click on their mobile phones. This initiative demonstrates our strong commitment for leveraging technology to enhance the employee experience by streamlining important administrative processes and making them more user- friendly.
In FY2023, we encouraged diversity by providing everyone with numerous opportunities to succeed, regardless of their gender, caste, colour, religion, and other factors. Together with the inclusion of 14 transgender people and one person with a disability, we have also maintained high diversity in the decision-making bodies inside our organisation. Additionally, we prioritise local hiring across the plant locations to encourage community empowerment. Currently at BALCO, we have 63% local hires as executives, 93% as workers and 88% as contract workers. In addition to this, we have concentrated on hiring minority people from Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern states.
During Pride Month, 14 members of the LGBTQ community were welcomed into the BALCO family across various domains. We marked the celebration of the spirit of diversity and inclusion by fostering an inclusive corporate culture and actively engaging with our LGBTQ members
At BALCO, we believe that educating our people through ongoing training and development programmes will enable them to implement their skill sets more effectively and perform even better.
Several training sessions are conducted based on behavioural changes, adherence to the Code of Conduct and corporate ethics. Also, our people receive regular training on technological advancements to enhance their productivity. A regular safety training programme is also offered by BALCO to help reduce the frequency of accidents that occur during production.
All our training requirements are identified after considering the skill matrix, the overall business need, as well as the functional and safety standards. Following this, every month, the leaders, executives, workers and contract employees receive proper training.
We have also partnered with BITS Pilani for an integrated learning initiative called ‘Project Horizon’ for the development of senior leadership.
The training initiatives have helped develop star employees with high performance, thereby leading to an overall increase in ROI.
This is a flagship initiative of BALCO, which involves case studies, group assignments, personal interviews and online personality profiling through which we can easily evaluate the leadership potential of our talent pool. Through the STARS identification and development process, we can easily map the right people for an enhanced leadership role at an early stage.
As a futuristic organisation, we have a job rotation policy in place that ensures that positions are switched every 3-4 years across different locations, roles and functions. This enables our people to gain a wider perspective and experience on both internal operations as well as the industry as a whole.
It is a part of our culture at BALCO to recognise the sincere efforts of our employees. To that end, we conduct felicitation ceremonies to reward our star performers for making great contributions towards the sustainable growth of the organisation. We also focus on recognising employees who have been with us for over 25 years and are dedicated to providing services. We organise the Long Service Award ceremony to boost and encourage our employees for their long and dedicated service.
We conduct a CEO award ceremony where eligible team members are recognised for their efforts. The V-Excel top performers award comprises three levers: performance, anchoring and care. Every year, the best performers are awarded a trophy and certificate by the senior management.
BALCO received several accolades during FY23. We were also acknowledged in a variety of categories. Our wins this year will pave the way ahead of us with a strong team of committed, skilled and enthusiastic individuals.
We have strengthened our initiatives to ensure our employees’ holistic well-being. In order to reduce the incidence of health concerns among our staff, we organise regular fitness and yoga programmes. We also host mental health workshops and selfcare sessions to help people cope with stress and anxiety.
Some of the initiatives implemented by BALCO towards enhancing physical, mental and social wellness in FY23 include:
On World Heart Day, BALCO conducted a self-care session for all employees, with Mr. Ashish Agarwal leading the session. It aimed at raising awareness among employees regarding cardiovascular diseases, stress management techniques, the significance of a healthy sleep schedule and its effects on the biological sleep clock (Circadian Rhythm), as well as work-life balance and well-being.
Following the pandemic, mental health concerns have been on the rise. Considering that, BALCO conducted a wellness session for its employees on the topic ‘Healthy Minds, Healthy Lives: Prioritising Mental Health at Workplace’ headed by Dr. Venu Gopal Margekar, MD, Medicine. Raising awareness of mental health concerns and the importance of making mental health a priority in daily life were the major objectives of this session.
On the occasion of World Health Day, BALCO launched a #10MinExercise campaign at the workplace to promote heart wellness among its team members and empower them to raise awareness among their friends and family. The initiative was launched for all O&M and enabling functions and covered over 500 employees.
A blood donation camp was organised by BALCO on World Health Day as part of promoting a healthy lifestyle among its stakeholders. Along with BALCO’s personnel, the senior management also actively participated in the event.
As part of this initiative, various sessions and workshops on mental health, hygiene and physical health were conducted for female employees.
During International Women’s Day 2023, BALCO organised Sakhi – The Women Wellness Session covering 500 women employees of BALCO including executives, workmen and contract workers to promote health and well-being of female employees and empower them to raise awareness among their friends and family.
The pandemic has been challenging and we consider the health and well-being of our employees to be our responsibility. We are still following the process of regular vaccination for our employees and their family members. During FY23, we conducted vaccination drives for our people and provided them with the COVID-19 booster dose vaccine.
We at BALCO have enhanced our occupational health and safety initiatives during FY 2023 and are now more focused on ensuring consistent care for our employees by protecting them from all potential occupational hazards. Moreover, we organise regular health check-ups to closely monitor the health of our people.
We have done workplace Hygiene monitoring through competent party (both qualitative & quantitative) and framed action plan for reducing red zones at site. In order to track occupational health of our employees we have initiated Care Wings at each SBUs where doctors are made available on scheduled basis for diagnosing and monitoring the overall wellness of employees and business partners.
The major initiatives undertaken towards occupational health and safety during FY 2023 are-
Safety is a fundamental and strategic priority at BALCO, permeating all aspects of our operations and decision-making processes. BALCO is commited towards zero harm at workplace. Safety constitutes an essential and non-negotiable component of our business philosophy. We demonstrate unwavering commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, business partners, and the communities we operate in. This year we didn’t have any fatality across our site.
To reinforce our safety culture, our senior management actively engaged in interactive sessions with our shop floor employees. These sessions effectively communicated the concept of the “Right to refuse unsafe work,” highlighting the utmost importance of employee safety. The primary objective of this initiative was to empower our employees to voice their concerns when confronted with hazardous working conditions.
In order to facilitate effective communication, we have established a dedicated safety helpline contact number exclusively for all of our employees including business partners. This helpline serves as a direct channel of communication through which employees can report safety concerns, incidents, or any observed unsafe work practices. It offers a readily accessible means for employees to raise issues related to safety.
At BALCO, we firmly believe that safety is not merely a regulatory requirement but a fundamental value that underpins our operations. We are committed to fostering a safe and secure work environment, where our employees feel empowered to actively participate in promoting and maintaining safety standards.
Project Sankalp, initiated by BALCO, has taken several measures to enhance safety culture and improve overall safety practices within the organisation for this we have engaged M/s. DuPont Sustainable solutions. We have governance team led by Senior Leadership for driving various modules of Safety culture building in which Sub-committees develops systems to be implemented and BU implementation committees track implementation at sites.
We organize a monthly safety gathering called Suraksha Sankalp which is scheduled on the first day of every month. Every month has a defined safety theme and various focussed drives are being conducted based on the monthly theme. The Suraksha Sankalp gathering provides a platform for management and employees to discuss safety-related topics, share updates, and reinforce the commitment to safety. It serves as a regular forum to address safety concerns and provide necessary guidance.
We have implemented SAP Based safety permit system which has provided ease to users through digital media and better record keeping.
We have introduced a digital signage system across its facilities. These digital signages displayed important safety messages, reminders, and guidelines to create awareness among employees. This visual communication medium helped reinforce safety practices and keep employees informed.
90 Days Transformation journey completed for standardizing machine guarding across BALCO.
3rd Party Safety Audit as per IS 14489:2018 conducted.
Suraksha Samvaad- BALCO senior management along with business senior management interacted with all shop floor employees to empower them for “Right to refuse unsafe work”.
Excellence Award- Silver Category-2022 for Metal Division
for Digitalization in HSES
We at BALCO have celebrated the 52nd National Safety Week with the aim of ‘Zero Harm’. The celebration comprised of 16 different types of events at different locations involving over 6000 employees and business partners. The events involved dramas, quiz competitions, health check camps, safety drawing competition, short film, safety reels, workshops along with family connect and top management message on safety.
We at BALCO, have engaged DuPont, a renowned safety solutions provider, to assist in building a robust safety culture across the company through Project Sankalp. DuPont’s expertise and experience in this field were leveraged to develop effective safety practices.
We have implemented a Critical Risk Management (CRM) based program in collaboration with DuPont Sustainable Solutions. This program focused on identifying critical risks within the organisation and developing strategies to mitigate them effectively. The CRM platform facilitated tracking, monitoring, and reporting of safety-related issues and their resolutions.
Amongst the Vedanta units, CRM was launched first in BALCO. Out of the 9 critical risks identified for BALCO, 5
have been successfully rolled:
DSS consultants devote valuable time each month to various activities aimed at coaching our people in safety management. They also provide training sessions to both company employees and business partners, actively participate in safety reviews, and conduct incident investigations and CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Actions) reviews at each site. Additionally, DSS consultants have organised a Job Cycle Check workshop. Through this comprehensive approach, there has been a significant improvement in the engagement of both our employees and those of our business partners in safety management.
BALCO is now operating with revised road safety measures introduced during FY23. Some of them include
Our fire safety is an ongoing process and a proactive approach to identifying and mitigating potential fire hazards is crucial to maintaining a safe working environment.
Fire safety training man hours
Safety risk assessments are conducted for all non-routine activities through JSEA (Job Safety & Environment Analysis), while HIRA (Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment) is performed for all activities. Additionally, area managers conduct scheduled critical task audits to ensure safety measures implementation.
Employees and contractors receive safety trainings through different methods, including induction sessions and an annual refresher training. Specialised trainings are also conducted for high-risk jobs, and a specific program focuses on safe driving practices. Innovative approaches using AR, VR technologies are used to enhance the training experience. Virtual safety trainings help in stimulating real life environment so that the employees get a feel of the reality which ensures better implementation of the safety protocols on the field.
in Gold Category for road safety initiatives for FY23.
by Frost & Sullivan and TERI
Gold Rating at
in Sustainability Category
Recognition Program (AFRP) Award by IRIM
Aluminum industry to receive Greenco Rating from CII
at National Awards for Manufacturing Competitiveness (NAMC) 2022
The objective of this project is to develop an improved suspension rescue system for individuals working at heights, ensuring their safety and minimising the risk of unconsciousness caused by prolonged hanging time.
The maximum safe hanging time is limited to 10 minutes before the risk of unconsciousness due to reduced blood flow to the upper body becomes a concern. This limitation poses a significant obstacle to efficient rescue operations and delays the overall working at heights (WAH) activity.
To overcome these limitations, the project has focused on designing and implementing an enhanced suspension rescue system. This system includes a shock-absorbing mechanism and a full-body harness without shock absorber, both of which will be readily available for emergencies. By integrating these features into the rescue system, we aim to extend the safe hanging time, reduce the risk of unconsciousness, and improve overall compliance with safety guidelines.
