Intuit India – Creating a sense of belongingness

Quickly gulping the morning meal, rushing through the daily newspaper and readying for office is common routine for urban professionals. This can be a lot more challenging for young working parents who have small toddlers to deal with. These little ones tend to get cranky when they see their parents leaving them with caretakers.

Recently, a video was doing the rounds on social media, which showed a five- year old kid stopping his father, a policeman, from going to work. The kid probably sensed that once the father left home for work, he will not get to spend any time with him. Quite a trauma for the child and the parent!

Thankfully, employees at Intuit, a technology company, may not have to worry about having to go through such traumatising experiences.

Intuit India’s initiative called the ‘Little Intuit day’ is organised for the kids of all its employees. This initiative was started around four years back and was conceptualised by the engagement team in the company. This theme-based celebration takes place every year.

The theme for this year’s celebration —that lasted from 25 to 27 April — was Winter Wonderland!

In keeping with the theme, a snow zone was created at the Intuit office for the children to experience snow this summer. “We wanted this day to be the best day of their summer vacation,” says Zeeshan Ramlan, HR leader- Diversity & Inclusion and CSR, Intuit India.

Usually the ‘Little Intuit day’ is a two-day event but this time it was extended to three days. The Company divided the days according to the age groups of the kids.

The first day was meant for toddlers— one-month old kids to four-year olds. They were kept engaged with activities, such as making snowmen and lanterns. On the second day of the event kids aged five to 16 joined the party. They got to participate in activities and workshops related to making snow globes, clay snowmen, winter lanterns and much more. In addition, to inculcate the value of giving, children also prepared monsoon kits comprising umbrellas, rubber slippers, and raincoats and distributed them to underprivileged girl children. Being an IT company, Intuit also organised tech workshops where children learned to create gaming apps.

“We wanted this day to be the best day of their summer vacation”

There were over 25 activities in total and more than 560 children attended the programme.

Kids of Intuit’s support staff were also able to participate in the event this year. “Donated books were given to these kids. We wanted to create the same feeling of belongingness for the support staff and their kids,” mentions Ramlan.

This unique initiative by Intuit India for the children of its employees is an innovative combination of employee engagement, learning for kids and CSR at the same time. An extra day dedicated to the children of the support staff members also added more colour to the event. Other companies should follow in Intuit’s footsteps to make their employees and their families feel special.

Last year, the theme of the celebration was ‘Discoveries in Space’, and the event witnessed participation of over 400 children. The children enjoyed fun activities, such as DIY jetpack and making 3D planets. To promote giving and sharing, Intuit India had also set up a Wish Rocket, where children donated gifts to be distributed amongst underprivileged kids.

“The Company wants to create a sense of belongingness through this initiative. Now, even the kids of our employees know what kind of an environment their parents work in. They are aware that their parents work in a happy environment and an awesome workplace,” shares Ramlan.

Intuit also attempts to connect with the families of its employees by inviting them to the Company’s annual day.

Engaging with the kids and families of employees is becoming a trend in various sectors, and more prominently, in the manufacturing sector. Companies are finally starting to recognise that it is only because the families of the employees sacrifice their moments and time with their loved ones that the employees are able to play a productive part in the growth of the organisation.