Staying the full term at the workplace
Maternity Bill likely to make women stay the course of their tenures and help retain top talent
The Lok Sabha has passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, increasing the duration of the maternity leave for working women in the public and private sector from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children. This is expected to do a lot for companies facing a significant drop in diversity, especially at senior levels wherein women have preferred to opt out of leadership roles for starting families and raising children.
A lot, however, needs to be done to make sure that women employees are retained and, during interviews, not asked to give answers they are uncomfortable with: such as ‘are you married’?
HR experts have termed the measure as “progressive” and said that it will boost the number of women staying the course of their tenures, and is a great way to ensure retention of female employees. “Women employees across industries will now have a greater opportunity to build a long-term career, without compromising on their personal priorities,” they say.
Currently, many companies have new mothers’ policies in place such as access to daycare facilities at or near office locations, allotted parking slots for expecting mothers, work from home or flexible hours, and shift timings and location of their choice for up to a year upon return from maternity leave. Some even offer company reimbursed personal AC cabs for commuting between home and office for women in their third trimester of pregnancy.
Research findings from a study conducted by Nasscom and Trilegal titled Maternity Benefits and Facilitating Return To Work have revealed that companies that offered additional maternity leave and creative benefits actually saw demonstrable results in the form of increased return to work post-maternity and greater employee retention over a period of time.
DOUBLE BURDEN
The 26-week maternity leave will give a greater window for women to focus on their newborns during this very important period in their lives. Women will find it more easier to return to work without the conflict of having to make a choice between motherhood and a career, says Thammaiah BN, MD, Kelly Services India.
The Kelly Global Workforce Insights (KGWI) survey of 2016, on Women in STEM, found that women in India tend to drop out of workforce at key phases in their lives, most notably around childbearing years. The most significant driver is the ‘double burden syndrome’ of women struggling to balance work and family in a culture where both men and women feel the family and household duties are primarily the woman’s responsibility.
So, what are companies doing about it? Sapient offers 26 weeks of fully paid maternity leave for its full time employees and acknowledges that a new mother’s rightful place is with her child.
The maternity bill of 26 weeks will allow the lady to acclimatise to her life change, physical demands, meet her family obligations and deal with her emotional needs which are overwhelming and need to be addressed, says Kameshwari Rao, vice president, People Strategy, HR lead, Sapient India.
Gayathri Ramamurthy, head, diversity and inclusion, Capgemini Technology Services India, says that the company allows for 26 weeks of maternity leave, 45 days of miscarriage leave and also adoption leave. Women employees get 60 calendar days if the child is below one year of age and 30 says if the child is above one year of age.
The digital world (SMAC) is changing the skills environment rapidly. “Therefore, it is important that we properly onboard all women who come back from maternity leaves and help them become ready with the right kind of training and skilling initiatives,” she says.
“The Fare Welcome programme is a key initiative from Capgemini in this direction where women who are on maternity leave inform us one month in advance before joining back. This helps us plan their training needs and project allocations right and help them seamlessly adapt and settle down when they join back,” she says.
“Our leave policy, refreshed in April 2016 much ahead of industry and government standards, focuses on new parents, both men and women, to ensure that they are supported and enabled by the organisation.
The maternity leave was increased to 180 days, both for biological and adopted children, while the paternity leave is for 14 days. For single parents, the policies are in line with regular maternityand adoption leave,” says Ongmu Gombu, executive vice president - HR, GSK Consumer Healthcare.
Genpact had increased its maternity leave to 26 weeks earlier this year. Applicable to not only birth mothers but also adopting and commissioning mothers, the maternity leave is accessible to women employees for giving birth to or adopting up to two children, says Piyush Mehta, SVP and chief human resources officer, Genpact.
On the flip side, some experts say that the bill will have an enormous impact on small companies and start-ups with small teams. A 26-week of absence will mean a significant loss for them as smaller firms operate on thin margins. This kind of scenario will render some jobs redundant, says Subramanyam S, CEO of Ascent HR.
Experts worry that married women might have problems getting jobs going forward, especially for critical roles. Companies could hesitate to employ women after marriage and they could face more questions such as ‘are you married?’ and ‘how long have you been married?’ during interviews.
An absence of six months may not be easy to manage even from a skills perspective, he says, adding, it would take three to four months for women to get back to routine roles.