8 December 2016 12:00 am
Hayley’s Plantation sector’s flagship entities, Kelani Valley Plantations PLC and Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC claimed two Gold awards and four Silver awards at the National Business Excellence Awards (NBEA) 2016 organised by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL).
Kelani Valley Plantations PLC won two Gold awards in the Agriculture and Plantations Sector category and the Excellence in Environmental Sustainability category as well as three Silver awards in Excellence in Performance Management, Excellence in Local Market Reach and Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility categories.
Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC won a Silver award in the category, Agriculture and Plantations Sector. The NBEA is an annual award competition conducted by the NCCSL with a view to recognizing business enterprises, which have demonstrated excellence in business, whilst contributing to the economic progress of the country. Commenting on the recognition received at the NBEA, Kelani Valley Plantations PLC and Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC Managing Director Roshan Rajadurai said, “These accolades pay tribute to the outstanding and innovative management practices which the plantations sector of Hayleys adopted, whilst facing various industrial challenges. This national level recognition significantly highlights the exceptional contribution towards driving organisational performance through sound resource management practices.”
Over the last decade, Hayleys Plantations has been leading the charge through the implementation of a series of bold initiatives to address industry challenges across its two pioneering plantation sector companies, Talawakelle Plantations and Kelani Valley Plantations. The Hayleys approach aims to resolve long-standing challenges within the tea industry by sincerely addressing the human resource management issues that lay at the root of the industry’s current difficulties.
Through concerted efforts to improve the social and economic standards of its 20,000 direct workforce and its 110,000 strong extended plantation community, Hayleys has worked to ensure that these communities are given a meaningful stake in the profitability of its plantation sector. The company has made employee welfare the lynchpin of its strategy for raising productivity and quality, parallel to its efforts toward crop diversification and the implementation of new agricultural processes and techniques.