RIL Launches ‘Virtual Reliance Summer Program’
Keeps Up its Commitment to 84 Young Summer Trainees
In RIL it is
business as usual in its commitment to new joinees. Even as we increasinglyhear
aboutlarge global companies withdrawing job offers or suspending on-boarding of
recruited employees, RIL went ahead and on-boarded 84 summer interns last week
in a well-crafted online manoeuvre. The program, called the ‘Virtual Reliance
Summer Program’, is a thoughtful and detailed program that not only enables interns
to do their summer jobs online but also get the feel of working with an
organisation, inculcate a sense of belonging and geta full corporate work
experience.
The 84 summer
interns were recruited earlier this year from various management schools from
across the country. They were relieved and pleasantly surprised to receive an email
from the company asking them to join in April, as scheduled in the pre-Corona
period. The interns were provided guidance on theappropriate online platforms
to equip their devices with.
At its own
end, RIL prepared the detailed “Virtual Reliance Summer Program” for each of
the interns. The program started witha detailed on-boardingmodule aimed at not
only providing interns with company and job orientation but also building team
spirit through several tasteful ice-breaking and team-building sessions.
The Interns
were inculcated into the company philosophy, culture and businesses through
online sessions with leadership from key businesses as well as the heads of HR
and Corporate Brand and Communications. Each Intern was assigned a ‘Buddy” – a
senior alumni from the same business team - to be a mentor and support, so
essential in the initial days. In addition, personal calls were arranged with business
heads and HR partners to provide each intern an adequate overview of the
program and relevant guidelines.
Creative and
interesting engagement activities were next in line to ensure the ice was
broken and teams were built. Some ingenuous activities included:
- Gesture Challenge: Wednesday, 8th
April was the day of the pre-boarding session where the summer interns learnt
to effectively use the online platforms. A light hearted gesture challenge at
the end of the session put all of them in the right positive frame of mind for
their next few weeks at RIL.
- Twinning day: Monday, the13th April
was “twinning day” - interns got to plan twinning outfits with one colleague in
the batch
- Props day: Tuesday, 14th April was ‘props
day’ when our interns joined an interactive session with their alumni while
wearing fun props
- Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Interns were
divided into teams to playa ‘virtual scavenger hunt’ with a list of tasks to be
completed. People got glimpses of eachother’s daily life during WFH through this
activity.
Sufficiently charged and excited about their internships,
the summer interns have now plunged into their daily routines. The eight week
programme has been well adapted to the online environment with adequate
protocols for access and data security and governance.
The program itself has been revamped to be remote friendly
with charters shared with each intern and pre-defined weekly connects
established. The program has also incorporated gamified learning and engagement
modules to make work and learning more interesting. Adequate governance through
regular check-ins and surveys and working with assessment partners for online
assessment and Pre Placement Offers have also been incorporated to make it a
completely functional internship programme.
RIL teams feel satisfied they managed to create this
comprehensive online internship programme in such a short time through sheer
hard work and resolve. The initial relief at finding their internships were not
withdrawn, and then the delight on the faces of the young interns as they
started the programme, have been just rewards.
