No bad blood here

Did you know that the Tata’s have a blood bank is some of its big plants – Tata Motors and Tata Steel most certainly have one of the best. And the management encourages its employees to donate blood. In fact it has a policy in place - if you donate a bottle of blood, not only you are given off for that day, but you can also avail an extra leave within 7 days of donating the blood.

Employees use it to extend their holidays and Tata’s lose several man-hours through this policy.

Once, while having a conversation with the employees of the company, Ratan Tata was asked a question (by a senior official), "People take undue advantage of the policy. We lose several man-hours due to this. The blood is replenished within 24 hours, you know. Why to give that extra holiday within 7 days of donating blood."

Ratan Tata smiled. He always does. And then came a calm reply. *"Encouragement is something I don't need to teach you. Only a few people donate because they want to. Talking about man-hours, we may be losing some man-hours doing that, but have you ever thought of the number of man-hours that get added to the person's life who receives that blood in the time of necessity? I am ready to sacrifice some of our man-hours for the better good of humanity."

How many of our Indian companies can even talk about doing such things? Some companies, like the Tata’s are beyond profit and loss; they are a blessing to the country.