Hayleys Plantations’ 25th Anniversary and 150 years of Sri Lanka Tea, celebrated with 23,000 meals for estate employees and their children

Hayleys Plantations’ regional plantation companies, KVPL, TTEL and Horana, recently celebrated the quarter century presence in the Country with its workforce of over 23,000 estate employees. Each employee received lunch on the day to commemorate 25 years and to mark the gratitude towards their immeasurable contribution to Hayleys and the Sri Lankan Tea Industry. A special meal was served to the little children and babies in The Hayleys Plantation Crèches. A Birthday Cake was also cut by the Managing Director – Hayleys Plantations, Roshan Rajadurai, to mark the milestone event. The celebration also focused on the Tea Industry’s 150th Anniversary and its deep rooted and rich history, which placed Sri Lanka on the world map. All employees were appreciated for being the beating heart of the Tea industry. This kind of celebration with deep recognition to the entire workforce is a first in the history of the tea industry.

Commenting on this momentous occasion, Managing Director Roshan Rajadurai said, “This year marks 150 glorious and illustrious years of the tea industry in our island, and a quarter century for Hayleys Plantations. We believe that our longevity and success pivots on our workforce of over 23,000. And that is why our focus is consistently on uplifting their lives, while enabling and harnessing productivity.” In recognition of these efforts the Company has been awarded the “Asia Pacific HR Excellence Award’ and “Global HR Excellence Award”, for leading HR practices in quality Work-life”.

K. Sarojini an employee of the Moon Plains Division of Pedro Estate commented saying, “We are really happy that the management and the company recognized us and celebrated with us on this special day.” S. Janagi, Mahagastotte Lower Division of Pedro Estate added “It means a lot to us that our Company celebrated together with us and gave us recognition. We greatly value this.”

The Hayleys Plantations, ethos is based on uplifting its valued workforce which forms the lifeblood of the sector. The Company focuses heavily on giving back to the community and enriching the lives of the workers as well as the dependents which number close to 140,000. In order to do achieve this, in 2006 the plantation companies, KVPL and TTEL launched ‘A Home Every Plantation Worker’ which is a unique and multi-dimensional community initiative targeted at uplifting the living standards of employees and the estate community. The project is structured around the four focus areas aimed at uplifting the socio economic status of estate families in the Group’s plantations.

The Living Environment pillar, engages communities in multiple initiatives including the improvement of housing, water, sanitation, recreation and learning facilities.

The Health and Nutrition focus covers a range of comprehensive health and nutrition initiatives include preventive healthcare through immunisations, antenatal and postnatal care, and guidance on nutrition, early childhood development support and auxiliary medical services.

Youth Empowerment includes working in collaboration with government institutes and reputed NGOs and provide vocational training on a range of subjects for estate community youth. These training initiatives are also inclusive of scholarships for tertiary education, based on merit and talent.

Community Capacity Building initiatives are done in collaboration with the Estate Worker Housing Co-operative Society, and include disbursement of micro financing loans, dental clinics, Scholarships, Eye clinics and other donations. In addition they also conduct awareness training programmes on an array of subjects including dengue prevention, waste management, and prevention of drugs/alcohol among others. The success of the initiative is underpinned on its ability to bring about significant improvements in the quality of life estate community families. During last year, the Sector invested over Rs. 110.5 million in a wide array of initiatives and activities under the four pillars described above.

Hayleys Plantations also won at the National HR Excellence Gold Award, National Business Excellence Award (3 Gold and 4 Silver) and also, the CSR Gold Award from JASTECA for “A Home for Every Plantation Worker” Programme.