Indian Hotels Company, which runs the Taj chain of luxury hotels, has provided assistance including payment of three months of salary, employment opportunity for a family member, and funding of children’s education to the families of its employees who succumbed to Covid-19.
The Tata Group-promoted hospitality sector leader has joined the list of several companies including Bajaj Auto, Borosil, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra who have rolled out assistance programs for families of employees who lost their battle against Covid-19.
Speaking to shareholders at the 121st annual general meeting, IHCL Chairman N Chandrasekaran said, “We lost about 33 Taj employees and we are supporting their families in many ways. They are given three months of gross salary, counselling, medical care, insurance coverage, education assistance for the children and in special cases some financial assistance and employment opportunity for at least one member.”
Along with its peers, IHCL too had kept some of its properties running even during the peak of the pandemic. These properties catered to unusual guests including hospital medical staff like doctors and nurses, other healthcare workers, and those belonging to essential services, quarantined guests to name a few. IHCL has Taj, Vivanta, SeleQtions, and Ginger as its primary hotel brands in addition to ama Stays and Trails, a homestay brand.
During the lockdown period of during April-June quarter of FY21, demand was predominantly from the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, Government of India’s quarantine requirements for people returning from abroad, voluntarily quarantined corporate and individual travelling guests, medical practitioners and front liners, international travelers awaiting return and corporate business continuity teams operating out of hotels, IHCL clarified in its annual report.
The Taj Group has a total of 25,906 employees, including around 22,400 employees in India. Of the 25,906 employees, 15,409 are permanent employees and the rest are full-time contractors and contractual employees. The group has 165 operational hotels which have 19,425 rooms.
Tata Group company Tata Motors had said it lost 47 employees to the pandemic. The automaker said it will pay 50 percent of the basic salary every month to the family of employees who succumbed to COVID-19 till the age of retirement. The payment will be in addition to a one-time payout the family gets as immediate relief.
Two-wheeler specialist Bajaj Auto had said earlier that it will continue to pay salary for two years to the family of the employee who dies due Covid-19 as well as fund the education of the children of the deceased.
