Be the Change

Nikita Zutshi, Director - Human Resources

 

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will change it.” - Robert Swan

 

As an avid traveler and someone who works for a travel company, we are so busy showing customers the beauty of destinations across the world and enabling that journey, that it is easy to forget the negative impact of such a life-changing experience. As the country’s largest travel aggregator, we have double the responsibility towards our travelers and our environment.

 

When I was first asked to manage Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and drive more impact through our initiatives, I knew that my greatest challenge would be to get people to care. Though the deterioration of the environment is all around us in the form of air pollution, water crisis etc., it is largely invisible to us.

 

In July of 2017, our team ably lead by our CEO Deep Kalra and CHRO Yuvaraj Srivastava, brainstormed on ways and means to make real impact through something which is both visible and tangible. We came up with the ‘Be the Change’ initiative. We realized that the only way to make people feel like they are making a difference was by making them accountable, and enabling them to ‘Be the Change’. This would be our mantra.

 

Despite my reservations, I was surprised to find that not only did people across teams (Leadership, Technology, Flight Product, UX, Content, Finance) work tirelessly to bring ‘Be the Change’ alive, they got the initiative LIVE on the app within 3 months. In the initial phase, we went LIVE on the domestic flight channel. ‘Be the Change’ was a crowd sourcing initiative where anyone booking a domestic flight with us, could opt to donate Rs. 5 towards this initiative.

 

Since then, the response has been more than overwhelming. Today, we see a 70% attach rate which means that for every ten transactions, 7 opt to donate. These funds, along with our company funds, have opened so many doors for us. Through our partners like Seva Mandir, Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Grow Tree and many others, we helped offset carbon footprints by helping plant over 1 million trees as on June 2019—a very special milestone for us.

 

We have adopted an island in the Andamans called the Neil Island, and with the support and collaboration of the government, the hotel association, and even the small kiosk owners, we have pledged to make the island plastic-free.

 

From Ladakh, where we work with Sonam Wangchuk aka Phunsuk Wangdu from 3 Idiots, and Rajasthan where we have created a green cover, to helping save the Olive Ridley turtles in the Andamans, and helping create a green cover for red pandas in Sikkim, slowly but steadily we are creating an impact and truly being the change that we want to see in the world.