Indian steel giant Tata Steel took a big step towards inclusivity at workplace with the launch of WINGS, an Employee Resource Group for LGBTQ employees under its Diversity and Inclusion program called Mosaic. WINGS was launched on May 18th, a day after the world celebrated IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia), at the Tata Centre in Kolkata. The launch was attended by senior executives of the company, including VP – Steel (Sales and Marketing) and Vice President – Human Resource Management.

Close to 100 senior executives of TATA STEEL and its associated companies were present for the launch, which was also webcast to various locations. M C Thomas, Executive-in-Charge, Ferro Alloys and Minerals, gave the welcome address and set the tone for the day. He talked about Mosaic -the D&I initiative of Tata Steel that was launched in 2015, and how WINGS is an important part of their initiative of having a more diverse workforce. “We believe a great workplace like us is not only a place where everyone feels included, but is also where each one of us is a part of the system,” he said.

Mr Peeyush Gupta, VP – Steel (Sales & Marketing), in his address, further listed why this ERG is important, and the need for having an inclusive workplace. He acknowledged that Tata Steel might be late in developing an LGBT inclusive policy, but said that it was a good time to start now than later. “We are embracing LGBT policy because this policy should have happened many more years.. many more months.. many more decades before we all came, and that’s the change which we want to bring. Today is probably the right time. We cannot remorse on the fact that we have not done it in the past, but we also do not want to repent many months or years later that we did not do it today. As a pioneering company, we have done number of pioneering things in the past, this is one such pioneering thing we can do for the steel industry,” he said. Read more via Gaylaxymag