Flipkart builds an arsenal of benefits for its employees
2 min read 14 Jul 2015, 12:54 AM ISTFirm announces Adoption Assistance Programme to address the issue of biological parents being given more time off with their newborns than parents who adopt
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Bengaluru: Flipkart, India’s most valuable start-up, announced an adoption policy that could place it among India’s and the world’s most progressive employers.
On Monday, the company, which is valued at $15 billion, announced an Adoption Assistance Programme that addresses the issue of biological parents being given more time off with their newborns than parents who adopt.
Under the new policy, mothers who adopt children under 12 months of age are eligible for the same maternity benefits as others—six months of paid leave and four months of flexible working hours. This is in addition to a ₹ 50,000 allowance for legal expenses.
The fathers can avail six weeks of paid leave under this programme, the company said in a statement.
“We want to make Flipkart a great workplace for employees, especially when they go through large life events," said Mekin Maheshwari, chief people officer at the company. He added that this would help them attract talent at a time when the war for talent is intense.
Flipkart has 33,000 employees, and Maheshwari said the policies are a step towards driving equal opportunities and gender diversity.
Monday’s announcement puts Flipkart ahead of companies that have been around for much longer, say human resource (HR) consultants.
Accenture gives 22 weeks of paid maternity leave, and eight weeks of fully paid adoption leave for primary caregivers of an adopted child. Google offers new mothers up to 20 weeks of paid maternity leave and seven weeks for parents to bond with their new child as adoption leave. Google also reimburses up to ₹ 10,000 in expenses related to adoption. Vodafone has 16 weeks of paid maternity leave and one working week of paternity leave, but no adoption policy.
“We are seeing a great demand to construct flexible benefits for different layers of organizations. Benefits are a great differentiator and help provide a great experience (for employees) as they are tailor-made," said Sandeep Chaudhary, chief executive officer, Aon Hewitt, an HR consultancy.
Puneet Rathi, head, advisory and knowledge, Society for Human Resource Management India, said: “Giving money for adoption is good, but the adoption process itself is tough in India—especially if you want to adopt a girl child."
He is sceptical about how many adoptions the monetary support of ₹ 50,000 might encourage. “I know so many people who want to adopt, but the process is too complicated—there’s just so much paperwork," he said.
Rathi pointed out that while a Supreme Court judgement has made it mandatory for companies to give at least 90 days’ maternity leave in India, there is no such rule for adoptive parents. He said by allowing adoptive mothers maternity leave equal to biological mothers, Flipkart is giving them time to connect with their child.
Chanpreet Khurana in New Delhi contributed to this story.
