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
Women’s Advancement
Skilling and Training
Health and Wellbeing
Protecting Human Rights
Sustainability Certifications
Good Business Lab
In March 2017, Shahi incubated Good Business Lab (GBL), which aims to improve the lives of low-income workers by proving, through rigorous research, that better social well-being for workers can deliver measurable financial returns to businesses. Founded by Ach Adhvaryu (University of Michigan), Anant Ahuja (Shahi Exports), and Anant Nyshadham (Boston College), GBL brings together academic research and real-world insight, to create shared solutions that benefit both workers and firms in the following areas:
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 social and environmental performance of an organization. In 2018, we conducted the Higg self-assessment of our environmental and social sustainability in over 45 factories, in accordance with Higg Index 3.0.
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.
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 increased employability of rural populations, with a focus on increasing female labor force participation.
We have established partnerships with companies such as Tata Steel and Spark Minda and have set- up centers under government schemes such as Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY).
Awards
Good Business Lab Study
Shahi is setting up eight new centers in Karnataka in 2018. Using these centers, the Good Business Lab will conduct a randomized controlled evaluation on the impact of technical skilling in the garment industry on female labor force participation, women’s time use, and the welfare of women and their households.
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 voice their concerns and complaints, such as worker-management committees, suggestion boxes and a helpline managed by the corporate office. 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 are piloting mobile-based worker communication tools such as LaborLink and WorkPlace Options in a few factories, with the ambition of creating a Shahi-wide, technology-enabled worker communication tool by 2020.
Training and Awareness
Shahi has several worker-management committees to discuss various topics from grievances to working environment. In addition, to ensure 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. In 2018, we revamped and strengthened our Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy and committee, and are conducting awareness sessions for workers, supervisors, and middle management on sexual harassment, its prevention and redressal mechanisms.
