The telecom company has tried to address a serious issue with a change in policy, which will ensure that women employees will get the same role or an equivalent one once she returns from her 22 weeks of maternity leave.
The International Women’s Day seems to have woken up several Indian corporates to gender diversity, or probably they have chosen the week for Women’s Day as an opportune time to announce extended benefits and flexibility for women employees.
Airtel too has joined the list and extended the maternity leave from 12 weeks to 22 weeks. In addition, the telecom company will also provide flexible work options to working mothers to ensure a smooth transition to full working hours. The company’s office in Gurgaon has started a modern day care facility for children.
“It’s an endeavour to make Airtel a great place to work and promote gender diversity across all management levels. The objective is to provide adequate support to employees to strike a balance between their roles as parents and professionals,” an official communique said.
However, the telecom company has tried to address a serious issue with a change in policy, which will ensure that women employees will get the same role or an equivalent one once she returns from her 22 weeks of maternity leave. In addition, the rating of the employees for that assessment year will be based on their performance and contribution during the period they were working.
For adoption cases, the company has issued 12 weeks of leave, if the child’s age is less than two years and six weeks, if the age of the child is over two years. However, many companies offer the same duration of leaves, be it adoption or biological motherhood, with the belief that either way, a new mother needs to spend time with her child.
Male employees in both the cases can avail of one week’s paternity leave.
Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, says. “With this new policy, our aim is to offer adequate work-life balance to women employees and ensure that they continue to contribute to the Airtel growth story.”
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