Best Tea Harvesters of Finlays Estates tour India
July 19, 2010 06:54 pm
Finlays launched a new programme to identify the best performing “tea harvesters” in 2009. The Six best harvesters were chosen from the two companies, Hapugastenna and Udapussellawa plantations and were given an all expenses paid tour to Munnar in India.
This programme was launched to recognize the valuable contribution by the trained tea harvesters and aptly named “best tea harvester of the year competition”. The system was implemented in all our 26 estates and employees were made aware of the system through the estate Managers.
The competition was carried out across all the 26 Finlays tea estates. The best tea harvester from each estate was selected according to number of kilos and the quality of tea leaves plucked for the entire year. The competition was narrowed down until the best six harvesters were chosen. On arrival, up to departure from India, Finlays has given them a memorable event for their lives.
On behalf of Naresh Ratwatte, the Chairman of Finlays Tea Estates, Sri Lanka who initiated this concept, Finlays Tea Estates Sri Lanka Head of HR Ranil Kapugeekiyana, talking about the initiative said, “The group has always believed that the success of their organization is its people. We have been blessed with a well committed and disciplined work force, this programme will continue further, which will help to build the morale of the workforce and help to make them feel comfortable within the organization”.
The “Best Tea Harvesters” programme was launched with the sole aim of recognizing and appreciating the contribution made by the company’s employees towards achieving the Finlays Tea Estates Sri Lanka corporate objectives. The company was very keen in implementing this system since the harvesters are the backbone of the company, picking the finest tea leaves to maintain the quality and the Ceylon Teas that are marketed globally.
Throughout the competition all internal quality controls were maintained as usual to make sure that the emphasis on ‘quality’ was the main objective. The competition was well accepted by the employees and there was a keen interest all around and has helped increase the overall morale of the workforce.