Ms Deepa Kapoor is an accomplished professional with over 25 years of diverse experience spanning leadership, HR, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and entrepreneurship. An MBA in Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Deepa's journey includes significant roles at Genpact and Lucent Technologies. Her commitment to fostering change and transformation continued when she joined Punj Lloyd as Group Head for HR, CSR, and Skill Development, where she implemented cultural reforms and innovative employee programs.
In this insightful interview with TheCSRUniverse, Ms. Deepa Kapoor, Non-executive Independent Director and Chairperson of the CSR Committee, eClerx, takes us through the CSR vision and initiatives of eClerx's, a prominent process management and analytics services company headquartered in Mumbai. She sheds light on their commitment to enhancing employability and education for children and youth in the communities where they operate. She discusses the alignment of eClerx's CSR initiatives with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) towards addressing critical issues such as poverty reduction, healthcare, education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. She also shares insights on how eClerx measures the impact and effectiveness of its CSR initiatives, with success stories showcasing the tangible outcomes of their efforts.
To delve deeper into her insights, read the full interview below:
Q: Could you tell us about the inception of eClerx's CSR function and the underlying philosophy that guides your CSR efforts?
A: The role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become critical as forward-thinking, socially conscious organizations embed initiatives in their business practices that benefit societies, build healthy communities, sustain cultures, and ensure environmental well-being.
At eClerx, we have always deeply cared about people and the communities within which we operate. This has manifested in initiatives that pivot on employability and education for children and youth. Over the years, the company has partnered with credible implementing agencies for program rollouts, which focus on these areas while ensuring increased participation of various stakeholders. The end goal of our CSR programs is to create scalable, sustainable and replicable models of impact to ensure maximum benefit for our beneficiaries.
We believe that enhancing employability skills of the youth of our country is the first step towards creating stronger individuals. Our partner NGOs help youth acquire industry relevant skills, ensuring higher opportunities for employability and empowering youth with the ability to choose their career path. The eClerx Cares team, under the guidance of the CSR Committee, is responsible for championing all philanthropic and CSR initiatives of the company. The mission of eClerx Cares is to act as a catalyst for the identified programs in education and employability and mobilize our employees around it.
Q: eClerx has been working in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How do you align your CSR programs with these global goals, and which SDGs do your initiatives primarily focus on?
A: In order to improve the quality of the environment we have aligned our ESG and CSR strategies with 10 of the 17 United Nations SDGs, including other indicators like reduced poverty, good health & well-being, quality education, and gender equality. eClerx's collaboration with Sankalptaru Foundation resulted in the planting of over 10,000+ trees in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Q: Can you share more insights about this partnership and its impact on sustainable development and food security in rural areas?
A: Pressing global issues of climate change and environmental degradation demand urgent attention, and we at eClerx believe in doing our bit to making the world a greener place. While our direct carbon emissions might be minimal, we aim to address both the upstream and downstream impacts to enhance our organizational carbon footprint. Advocating for sustainability is one of our primary CSR functions, and in FY 2022-2023, we initiated an organization-wide project with Sankalptaru Foundation to implement and leverage tree plantation initiatives and address the issue of fading green cover in the country.
Sankalptaru runs a Rural Livelihood Plantation Model that is designed to improve the livelihood of villagers by planting fruit-bearing trees, endemic species of plants, and medicinal herbs. Aside from improving green cover, these trees also revive barren tracts of land and promote biodiversity.
Through this collaboration, we planted more than 10,000 trees across Pune and Alwar districts in Maharashtra and Rajasthan respectively, which has helped to generate more than 1,900+ employment hours for the local rural communities. In due course of time, this green cover will also have a widespread socio-environmental impact through women empowerment, poverty alleviation, and community ownership. Our plantation drive has also proved vital to improving the quality of water in the lakes and ponds nearby and has significantly increased groundwater table levels in the areas.
Q: eClerx has identified the environment as one of its main areas of CSR intervention, alongside education and employability. Can you elaborate on how environmental causes play a significant role in eClerx's CSR initiatives and overall vision?
A: Environmental sustainability is something that we deeply care about and maintain compliance with the global reporting standards. At eClerx, our effort has been to strike a balance between maximizing our business potential and achieving a reduced carbon footprint. We believe human health and well-being are closely linked to a healthy environment. We are proud to say that we have touched more than 15,000 lives last year through our initiatives.
Q: Employee engagement and volunteering are important drivers of eClerx's CSR initiatives. Could you elaborate on how your employees actively contribute to these initiatives and the overall impact of their involvement?
A: At the forefront of all our initiatives are our employee volunteers – the helping hands that bring each idea to fruition, and through whose efforts we are able to make a difference to numerous lives. While the eClerx Cares committee monitors project funding for different implementing agencies, the eClerx Cares Council, consisting of employee volunteers at each location, champions our employee engagement initiatives.
Employee donations and volunteering has always been one of our greatest strengths, and we have been fortunate to have their complete support and enthusiasm through all avenues of participation, whether it be virtual volunteering, physical assistance or NGO visits. This year, as we made the transition from virtual to physical volunteering, more than 5,800 employees participated across all initiatives. To benefit from the convenience and reach of virtual programs, we also conducted workshops like mock interviews, LinkedIn profile creation, presentation skills, and resume building for the youth. As part of Joy of Giving month, our volunteers visited our partner NGOs to conduct sessions on soft skills, basics of MS Office, resume building, etc. Collectively, we were able to impact 15,000+ lives through our volunteer strength this year.
Another unique activity initiated this year was the Impact Premier League, where employees could raise money for every kilometre they actively walked or ran through app-based tracking, and consequently plant trees or donate to a cause through the money they raised. More than 3,500 employees pledged to plant trees and helped educate children from underserved backgrounds.
Q: As the Chairperson of the CSR Committee, what are your future plans or goals for eClerx's CSR activities? Are there any new initiatives or areas of focus that you are considering?
A: We believe in aligning our CSR goals with the overall company goals and vision, so as to create and sustain a culture of giving in the organisation. At eClerx, our people are one of our strongest pillars, and together, we can create a team of change makers that bring about the necessary development in society. We want to continue to collaborate with credible implementing agencies and partners that foster real change and include technology enabled solutions wherever possible.
Q: How does eClerx measure the impact and effectiveness of its CSR initiatives? Can you share some success stories or positive outcomes resulting from these efforts?
A: We believe in maintaining judicious governance practices in order to ensure maximum effectiveness in all our projects. Most of our partners have been with us for more than five years through sustainable partnerships. One of our tried and tested ways of measuring impact has been through key performance indicators (KPIs), which provide a quantifiable and unbiased way of measuring progress towards a desired outcome. They offer a clear framework for many of our decisions as they help NGOs prioritize efforts and focus their resources on those initiatives that align best with our goals. In other words, they introduce focus, objectivity, and transparency into the projects we sponsor ensuring effective impact where required.
We also believe these indicators empower our partners to demonstrate and communicate progress in the right manner. For example, we work with many NGOs in the education sector and some of the most measured deliverables revolve around on-ground impact indicators like enrolments, attendance, term and board exam results, etc. Periodic reports on the KPI achievements by our partners against targets help to further measure positive outcomes.
One of our most successful partnerships have been with SAMPARC, which is an NGO based in Lonavala in Maharashtra, that works with remote tribes in uplifting youth and children through education and skilling programs that enhance employment. Over our 9-year-long partnership, we have been able to track and report progress on more than 4,900 youth who have been equipped with technical skills and 8,700+ students with quality education.
In 2021, we on-boarded ATMA an NGO accelerator who is helping SAMPARC to scale on aspects like organization structure, impact and effectiveness measurement, fundraising, leadership development, KRA/KPIs mapping and overall efficient functioning of the organization. The partnership has equipped SAMPARC’s senior management with enhanced process planning and implementation with sustainable practises.
We ensure that by using the right KPIs to monitor and manage our projects, we make sure that our CSR initiatives align with the overall business strategy.
Q: What challenges has eClerx encountered in implementing its CSR programs, and how have you overcome them?
A: Our biggest achievements and challenges have been around identifying the right partners to collaborate with for our organisational strategy and sustainable development goals at the grassroot level. While disbursing funds is one aspect of CSR, we believe it has to be done at the right time and for the right audience. Through our efforts in research and due diligence, we have been able to identify and tie up with NGO partners that align with our philosophy and relentlessly work towards achieving our collective goals.
Q: What are the improvement areas you would like to suggest to your implementation partners so that impact measurement and reporting of the CSR projects becomes easier for your organisation?
A: We frequently interact with our partners to understand their achievements and challenges, so we can applaud their success and be a partner and solution provider in their tough times. Some of the changes suggested over the years have revolved around formation of standard reporting formats so that each partner can share updates on the common organisational goals, realistic target setting to ensure applicability, relevance and practicality in achievements, etc.
Q: What are your suggestions to policy makers towards making implementation of CSR programmes more effective and conducive?
A: In its capacity as a regulator, the government has been able to provide the necessary conditions that act as a catalyst for CSR, with the main channels of action being proper regulation and CSR incentives. As most socially conscious organisations, we adhere to and believe in the power of governance and rightful usage of available funds for maximum impact. One aspect where the government can help is to encourage an inclusive approach where diverse projects and programs focusing on marginalised and vulnerable groups are undertaken. Another aspect is around holistic development of children by ensuring they are provided with access to quality education and proper nutrition to better their overall health and well-being. This can be achieved by encouraging organisations to allocate their funds and CSR efforts across various sectors such as rural development, environment, healthcare, education etc. More enhanced collaboration between various stakeholders should also be promoted through public-private partnership models between NGOs, corporate and government bodies. I think these are a few areas that will help to achieve the required impact.
