Information technology services companies plan to engage with their women employees better when they go on six-month maternity leave, contrary to worries of some start-ups.
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha early this month and awaiting President’s nod, mandates that women will have to be given 26 weeks maternity leave instead of the current 3 months.
Some of the start-ups have raised their concerns over the issue citing cost overruns due to long paid holidays for women employees.
Mid-size software firm Mindtree has developed a dedicated application, Mi Lady, and taken efforts to engage with women employees who will go on six-month maternity leave. The app is aimed at enabling “expecting and new mothers to stay connected, relevant, inspired and build a healthy support system”.
“We doubled our maternity leave to 26 weeks to allow women employees spend more time with the new addition in their family,” said Chitra Byregowda, head of sustainability and diversity, Mindtree.
Byregowda added that simply increasing the leave was not enough and the company realised the need to engage with these employees continuously and when they resume work.
“We needed to have a sustained support system in place to engage with employees on leave, make information accessible to them, and make their return hassle-free.”
Large companies were already offering a longer maternity leave to their women workforce. Tech Mahindra used to offer an option for as long as one year's leave.
“We will be implementing this (six-month maternity) policy. At Tech Mahindra, we already had an extended maternity policy, where women could opt for longer leave up to one year. Hence, we do not see the need for any specific planning, since several of our associates opted for it earlier. Considering our large workforce size, such situations are in any case built into our resource management plans,” said Sucharita Palepu, Global Head, People Practices, Tech Mahindra.
Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president, Nasscom, believes managers at different IT and BPM companies should be sensitised towards longer maternity leave and work life balance for women. “Awareness among the senior workforce will play a key role,” said Gupta.
“This will ensure more work life balance for women employees. And companies have already taken measures to factor in the six-month maternity leave for women employees,” said Kris Lakshmikanth, chairman and managing director of The Head Hunters India, a specialized recruiting agency for IT sector.
Lakshmikanth, however, pointed out women at sensitive roles in the IT services companies might face difficulties in getting back the same role once they come after a long break. “Some of the companies are also trying to make sure to offer the same role and projects after resuming work for women who go on six-month maternity leave.”