Tata Steel has taken action against 38 of its employees for breaching the company’s code of conduct, reports the Economic Times, citing chairman N Chandrasekaran at Tata Steel's annual general meeting. It comes after IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) confirmed it took action against six employees after finding them favouring a few staffing firms in incidents that recently became public. The chairman added that out of its 38 employees, 35 were dismissed for ‘unacceptable practices bordering on ethical issues’ and the other three for sexual misconduct.

The company took action against its employees based on complaints received by several whistle blowers on issues such as misuse of authority, conflict of interest, and contract management agreements. Tata Steel received a total of 875 complaints last fiscal year, 158 were related to whistle blowers, 48 were regarding safety and 669 were on HR and other behavioural issues.

On receiving many complaints, Chandrasekaran has said that it is a good thing and this is because of the ‘open culture’ created by the company. He added that the employees are encouraged to record their grievances. “As a company, we are a global benchmark, so we will continue to push the culture where we uphold the highest values and have a zero-tolerance policy," Chandrasekaran said.