We strive to work responsibly every day, with respect for people, the community, and the environment. As one of the largest private employers of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in India, we believe that it is our responsibility to do business better – for our employees, the industry, and all our stakeholders.
The five pillars of our Sustainability Strategy allow us to align our growth with the development of people, the community and the environment. Under each of these pillars we implement multiple initiatives, both independently and in partnership with our customers and recognized non-profit organizations.
Environmental Sustainability
Corporate Social responsibility
Skilling and Training
Health and Wellbeing
Fair and respectful workplace
Sustainability Certifications
Good Business Lab
Good Business Lab (GBL) is a labor innovation organization focused on using rigorous research to build the business case for worker wellbeing. GBL and Shahi have collaborated on various projects across four focus areas of a worker's employment journey.
Environmental Sustainability
At Shahi, we believe in responsible business growth by integrating environmental sustainability into the heart of our operations, at all stages of production. We improve our environmental performance through resource conservation and pollution prevention, so that we consistently achieve and operate at a higher resource efficiency.
Our vision is to be the most sustainable supplier of textiles and apparels for our customers.
Our strategy is focused on:
The Higg Index
The Higg Index, developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), is a voluntary self-assessment tool for assessing the social and environmental performance of an organization.
In 2021, 36 units underwent FEM 2020 verification by SAC approved verifiers, and the Verified average score was 73%
P.A.C.E.
Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement
P.A.C.E is GAP Inc.’s proprietary holistic life-skills training program for Female Garment Workers. The garment industry employs a majority female workforce. These women often lack access to formal education and training to progress personally and professionally. P.A.C.E. has been designed to allow them to unlock their true potential and fulfil their dreams. Shahi was the first organization to run P.A.C.E. in its factories and has extended capsule versions of this program to key influencers in P.A.C.E. participants’ lives, including their male co-workers, supervisors and family members. Since launching in 2007, the program has expanded beyond factories to include women and girls in community settings.
Awards
Awarded Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. Advocacy Champion Award in 2021 for amplifying our voice through media and news coverages, creating visibility and advocacy for Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. program
Social Impact:
Business Impact:
With the Good Business Lab, we studied the business impact of P.A.C.E. and found a positive return on investment, which has created a powerful business case for extending the program to every worker.
S.T.I.T.C.H.
Supervisors’ Transformation into Change Holders
S.T.I.T.C.H. is a soft-skills training program for line-level supervisors designed by Shahi in collaboration with Options and Solutions and Good Business Lab. Through modules such as problem solving, gender sensitivity, stress management, team management, amongst others, the objective of the program is to reduce harassment and improve line productivity.
Skill Development
Since 2013, Shahi has been establishing training centers across the country to skill and increase the employability of rural populations, with a focus on increasing female labor force participation.
We have established partnerships with companies like Tata Steel Foundation and Spark Minda and have set- up centers under government schemes such as Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SAMARTH) and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY).
Awards
Human Rights
Our ambition as company is to have a positive impact on human rights through job creation and advancement, especially for low-income women, and through development of communities where we operate. However, as a company with a workforce of over 100,000 people, we are aware that to ensure the security of human rights, we must put in place rigorous prevention and remediation systems.
Shahi Employee Handbook
Understanding that many of our workers had never been formally employed before, we have created an illustrated employee handbook in four local languages, which provides simple information for employees to easily understand their rights, responsibilities and benefits at the workplace.• Understanding that many of our workers had never been formally employed before, we have created an illustrated employee handbook in four local languages, which provides simple information for employees to easily understand their rights, responsibilities and benefits at the workplace. Topics included in the handbook include
Grievance Redressal Mechanisms
Several grievance redressal mechanisms are made available to workers to voice their concerns and complaints, such as worker-management committees, suggestion boxes, and helplines. However, we realize that with a growing workforce of over 100,000, we need to innovate and create more accessible and effective channels for workers to communicate with factory and company management. Therefore, we created ‘Inache’, a tool that enables workers to share their suggestions, questions, and grievances with management via SMS or voice messages. Inache is already running 30+ Shahi factories and our goal is to scale it to 100% of our factories by 2024.
Training and Awareness
Shahi has several worker-management committees to discuss various topics from grievances to the working environment. In addition, to ensure the effective functioning of worker-management committees, a holistic training has been designed for committee members on topics such as communication skills and Shahi’s HR policies. We have a robust Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy and committee, and conduct regular awareness sessions for workers, supervisors, and middle management on sexual harassment, its prevention, and redressal mechanisms.
