ESIC Ki Baat, Employer Kay Saath (Thank you, Forbes Marshall)

Increasing awareness of ESIC healthcare and insurance benefits among FM's supplier factories' owners, managers and workers (A Collaborative Initiative of Forbes Marshall and Safe in India Foundation)

The Initiative:

Access to healthcare and social security is a fundamental right of every worker. However, a large number of industrial workers across India, and even entrepreneurs/management are either unaware of their ESIC entitlements or unable to navigate its complexities. ESIC consultants are often focussed only on compliance and ignore benefits to workers and businesses completely.

This is not only a loss to workers and their families personally, but a contributor to low Indian labour productivity (133rd) and MSME productivity (half of global emerging market productivity), as evidenced in the Indian Economic Survey 24-25, that covered our recommendations/argument that worker safety and social security is good for business.

As an initiative to address this gap, the Safe in India Foundation (SII) was delighted to partner with Forbes Marshall, leveraging their ambitious and effective Parivartan initiative - to conduct systematic ESIC awareness sessions across their supply chain units over the past two years.

The Objectives:

1. Inform and educate the employers, their worker supplying contractors and ESIC consultants and of course their workers is to ensure that workers not only know about their ESIC rights but also actively access healthcare and compensation benefits for themselves and their families.
   

2. Improve ESIC registrations and compliances in these businesses, as they understand the business benefits of the ESIC scheme.

What is ESIC?:

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme, one of the best social security promise in the world for formal workers, offers crucial support to workers, such as:

● Free primary, secondary and tertiary medical care for workers and their dependents,

● Cash benefits during eg. sickness and maternity,

● Support during employment injury, disability, or loss of income.

What do we do to educate workers and employers on ESIC?:

1. On-Site Awareness Sessions: Conducting interactive sessions directly at factory premises—bringing together workers, employers, HR teams, contractors, and ESIC

consultants to learn collectively.

2. Collateral: Additional post-session collateral helping workers understand their rights under the ESIC scheme, the types of benefits available, and how to access them in practice.

3. Employer Capacity-Building: Supporting factory owners and HR personnel to register eligible employees, manage ESIC contributions effectively, and recognize the business advantages of worker social security.

4. Follow-Up and Continuous Support: The program team conducts follow-up visits to assist employers with ESIC registration and ensure that the registration process leads to actual benefit utilization by workers.

Initiative Coverage concluded:

● 61 factories - 20 industrial locations, Pune.

● 62 ESIC Awareness Sessions

● 1,572 workers

● Coordination with factory HR teams and owners to streamline ESIC registration and benefit claim processes.

Initiative's Early Success/Impact Highlights (more will be seen with time as the awareness take root and changes behaviours):

Mr Ganesh Kulkarni | Safe In India की ESIC training के बाद आया बदलाव (Change after the training)

1. Improved ESIC Compliance in 19 factories already with 100% registration promised by many: These 1000+ workers and 50+ employers now have a stronger understanding of ESIC rights, processes, and compliance requirements,resulting in more factories adopting and adhering to ESIC norms.

Out of 61 factories covered, 19 have transitioned from basic registration to active benefit utilization, showing substantial improvement in compliance and benefit access.

Several factories have pledged to ensure full ESIC coverage for all eligible employees, with one already achieving 100% registration and benefit access.

2. 500+ Workers Newly Covered Under ESIC: Over 500 workers who previously lacked coverage have now received their ESIC cards post-awareness sessions, ensuring access to essential health and social security benefits.

Mr Santosh Honkamble | Safe In India की ESIC training के बाद आया बदलाव( Change after the training)

3. Increased Women Participation through Maternity Benefits: Greater awareness of maternity and family benefits has encouraged more employers to recruit women, creating a more inclusive and secure work environment.

4. Family Coverage Expanded : Many workers have now added their dependent family members to their ESIC profiles, extending the reach of healthcare and social protection beyond the individual worker.

5. Timely Access to and better utilization of ESIC Benefits: c.25 workers have already obtained tangible ESIC benefits— including medical treatment, sickness leave, and maternity care—following the awareness sessions and support visits.

6. Contractor Awareness and Accountability Improved: Targeted engagement bridged critical knowledge gaps among many contractors, ensuring better compliance and benefit coverage for contractual workers as well.

7. 500+ workers joined SII's Whatsapp Channel for Continued Support : Over 500 workers have joined the dedicated Safe in India's WhatsApp channel, ensuring continued access to updates, FAQs and real-time assistance for ESIC-related queries.

Lessons Learned – Worker and Employer Perspectives

Worker Perspective:

• Very low awareness of ESIC and its benefits, but once they understand, it empowers them.

• They are highly receptive to awareness programs when delivered in simple language and through relatable examples.

• Once aware, many workers take ownership in completing registrations and adding family members to ESIC coverage.

  
  

Employer Perspective:

• Again, low awareness especially as ESIC consultants focus only on compliance and not on ESIC benefits.

• Many employers express willingness to comply but lack technical clarity on ESIC procedures.

• ESIC registration is often seen as a compliance task; these sessions have helped shift the perception towards a worker-welfare and business- benefit oriented approach.

Conclusion

We are pleased and grateful to have had this constructive partnership with Forbes Marshall, that delivered both great impact and learnings. We will continue this initiative with other willing and socially responsible employers. Our focus will remain on ensuring that no eligible worker is left behind and employers see and use the ESIC benefits for better worker experience and improving their productivity as a result.

Special thanks are due to the Forbes Marshall team for this pilot - Ms Rati Forbes, Mr. Virendra Gill, Mr. Datta Kuvalekar, Ms. Preeti Kibe, Mr. H.V. Singh, Mr. Vijay Sonawane and Mr. Abhishek Kadaskar.

 Written by - Jagdeep Bansod

Safe in India Foundation

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Any thoughts and suggestions? Do write to us at team@safeinindia.org