Telenor joins the ‘extended maternity leave’ club

Telenor India has also adopted a six-month paid maternity leave policy, making it uniform benefits for all Telenor employees across the globe. 

Telecom company, Telenor – which was Uninor till recently – decided to celebrate the rebranding with some good news for expecting mothers in its workforce.

It has adopted a six-month paid maternity leave policy as a minimum standard, globally across its 13 markets. The extended benefit is in line with the vision of encouraging diversity and developing women’s leadership in business and society.

The new policy will take effect from January 1, 2016. Approximately 36 per cent of Telenor’s global workforce of 33,000 people comprises women.

In the European markets, where the brand has its origins, the company offers maternity benefits as per the local regulations, which is normally six months or beyond. This new policy will now benefit employees in Asia, where maternity leave was less than six months, except for Bangladesh, where it was already extended.

Many women employees decide to discontinue their professional career to have children, which results in loss of leadership opportunities and cost from staff turnover.

“We know that a diverse workforce drives innovation and better performance. With the goal of ensuring that our organisation better reflects the world we live in, and in order to attract, retain and develop women’s leadership talent, we are instituting a minimum six-month paid maternity leave as a standard for our employees, everywhere we operate,” says, Sigve Brekke, president and CEO, Telenor Group.

“This will make a significant difference in markets, such as Thailand and India, where local regulations require only three months of maternity leave. We consider it a highly strategic move, both from a societal and a business perspective,” he adds.

Concurs Vivek Sood, CEO of Telenor India, “It is our goal to attract and retain the best of Indian talent, be it men or women, and we are confident that the revised maternity leave policy will make Telenor not only a very attractive place to work— for men and women—but also a place in which women can build careers and continue to fill the ranks of our leadership.”

Telenor India also has flexi timings and ‘work from home’ policy, which allows employees to work from home up to four days in a month.