RIL creates virtual employees 'Shubh' and 'Labh' towards employee engagement initiative

MUMBAI: In a unique employee engagement initiative, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries (RIL) has created two virtual employees. Named 'Shubh' and 'Labh', the two virtual characters will reach out to over one lakh employees of RIL to engage them in simple dialogue through animation. Given the size of the organization, engagement with employees can be a daunting task. Through Shubh and Labh, who share a common e-mail ID shubh.labh@ril.com, RIL aims to reach out to every employee to explain the benefits that the organization offers besides monetary compensation.

This is the first such initiative launched after Ambani's cousin Hital Meswani took over as HR head. The campaign will go on for a year.

"The idea is to inform our valued colleagues regarding all the elements of 'total rewards' that they get," an official said.

Apart from salary, annual cash bonus, medical and accident insurance, RIL employees are entitled to several other benefits that they are unaware of, the official said. These include health check-ups for employee and spouse, an emergency hotline that they can depend on anytime-anywhere, domestic and international education assistance, maternity, paternity and adoption leave; and post-retirement medical insurance.

"Unfortunately, we have not been able to communicate these benefits to our people, and so, we have created Shubh and Labh," the official said.

For instance, there is REFERS (Reliance Employee and Family Emergency Response Service), which all employees and their families can take recourse to during any kind of emergency, medical or otherwise, which Shubh and Labh have been communicating to employees over the last month.