Hyderabad: Tech firms make it easy for new moms to keep in touch

Hyderabad: Private employers are going that extra mile to provide a supportive ecosystem to help women balance their personal and professional priorities after rejoining work from maternity leave.

With women professionals, especially in the IT sector, facing challenges while resuming duties post maternity leave, companies are coming out with novel initiatives to help them.

One such concept is creation of apps to enable expecting and new mothers to stay connected and be updated with happenings in their office, progress of their projects, download policies, submit claims etc. 

At present, women employees have the option of availing maternity leaves for a period of 12 weeks. The Centre though recently enhance it to 26 weeks.

IT giant Infosys recently launched “Sapphire”, a maternity app, as part of its efforts to build an inclusive workplace for its women staff availing maternity leave.

According to Mr Richard Lobo, HR head at Infosys, the app was developed based on feedback from women employees, who were finding it difficult to get back into the groove after resuming duties.

IT professionals work in groups on projects and any break from duty poses a big challenge for the concerned staff member to keep pace with the work.

The app by Infosys helps expecting mothers plan leaves, download policies, submit claims and stay in touch with colleague.

Mr Lobo stated feedback from the app goes directly to a team leader, who does the needful.

“This app was well-received. Many expecting mothers have already download it,” he said.