Solv launches gender-neutral caregiving policy, progressive paternity leave

With the aim of enhancing overall wellbeing of staff, Solv, the Indian B2B digital marketplace for micro, small and medium enterprises, backed by the Standard Chartered Group, has rolled out a progressive paternity leave programme for its employees. Fathers can avail four weeks of leave on the birth of their child. The four-week paternity leave can be availed anytime within a year, in whole or in parts.

The objective is to let fathers have more time to bond with their new-born children and support their partner by sharing childcare responsibilities, so that families can be happy and healthy in the longer term.

This gender-neutral caregiving policy promotes physical, emotional and mental well-being of not just Solv’s employees but also their families.

Solv has implemented many people-friendly practices to promote overall well-being and better work-life balance for employees.

The Company’s adoption leave policy has always been gender-neutral, allowing for 12 weeks of leave at a continuous stretch, for the primary caregiver in the case of an adopted child.

It already follows No-Meeting Hour, Special Day Off and Wellness Day Off across the organisation.

Under the ‘No-Meeting Hour’ policy, meetings are discouraged between 1 pm and 2 pm, so that employees have time to unwind, eat lunch peacefully, or work without any meetings distracting their flow of thought.

Employees are encouraged to take a special day off, as per their choice to celebrate their own or spouse’s birthday or to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Wellness Day Off employees to vote for a day off once every quarter to take a break from work and unwind and return to work recharged and refreshed.

Amit Bansal, CEO, Solv, feels “Employees are at the core of our business, and we are making a conscious effort to not have a cookie-cutter approach towards our people practices. We constantly strive to make every effort to build a deep bond with not just our employees, but their families too”.

While the Company has offices in Bangalore and Noida, it believes that its core tenet of ‘customer first” can be achieved by employees working from anywhere. Therefore, employees have the option of coming into the office or working remotely, whichever is suitable.

This additional flexibility optimises their professional and personal responsibilities and contributes to overall employee well-being.

Registered as Standard Chartered Research & Technology India, Solv is a fully-owned entity of the Standard Chartered Group, headquartered in London.