IHCL to raise women participation in workforce to 25 pc by 2025

Tata group hospitality firm Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) on Friday said it aims to raise women's participation in its workforce to 25 per cent by 2025, and support women-led businesses and partners.

The company, which launched 'She Remains the Taj' -- a framework for women-centric initiatives for all stakeholders, including guests, employees, partners and the community -- is also aiming to provide skill training to around 25,000 women in the next five years.

IHCL's Managing Director and CEO Puneet Chhatwal said the company has been championing the cause of women and enhancing their participation, both within and outside the organisation.

The campaign 'She Remains the Taj' reiterates the company's commitment to create customer-centric experiences for travellers considering the growing economic influence of women consumers.

Chhatwal said IHCL will introduce a series of initiatives and enabling policies to increase women's participation in its workforce to 25 per cent, from the current 18 per cent, over the next five years.

At present, IHCL has over 2.8 lakh employees.

Speaking about the initiatives taken up by the company to support women in the community, he said IHCL has continued to back the sari weavers in Varanasi and is also supporting women involved with the beer brewing industry in Bengaluru.

''We have taken several initiatives internally, but also with organisations like CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and we have done an agreement with them to skill people. So if I add all of those initiatives, with CII, our own internal what we've been doing in the past, it comes to one lakh people to be skilled over the next five years, of which again, 25,000 will be women,'' Chhatwal said.

For its women guests, IHCL has also developed a value proposition to include heightened levels of privacy, security, bespoke amenities and stay offerings based on extensive research, it said.