Enhanced maternity, paternity policy at nascent stage: Survey

New Delhi: In spite of benefits of enhanced maternity leave policy on workplace performance, around 45 per cent of companies follow 9-12 weeks of maternity leave while 60 per cent have no paid paternity leave benefits, says a survey.

According to the Genius Parental — India Survey: 2016-17, 44.93 per cent respondents said organisations follow 9-12 weeks of paid maternity leave policy.

The Maternity Benefit Bill is up for debate in the Lok Sabha.

The Bill, which provides for increasing maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks, was passed by the Rajya Sabha in September this year, a step that augurs well for about 1.8 million women in the organised sector and is aimed at increasing the strength of working women.

The survey noted that 60.39 per cent said their organisations have no paid paternity leave benefits. "85.51 per cent of the respondents strongly insist for mandatory parental leave benefits (both paternity and maternity) in corporates across India," said R P Yadav, Chairman and Managing Director, Genius Consultants.

Interestingly, around 48.79 per cent respondents agree that paternity leave policy benefits would be just another form of 'paid leaves' to male employees.

Asked if a female employee should be allowed to work from home once she is deemed okay by a physician, thus reducing number of paid maternity leaves, around 59 per cent agree to the option of work from home post availing a certain maternity leave period.

Nearly 300 companies across the country participated in the survey, including HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Hyatt International, Tata Steel, TCS, Reliance Infrastructure, Airtel, HSBC, JSW Steel and Bharti Airtel, among others.