(Image source from: threadedhome.com)

In a conducted survey that was done by an online job platform for women, JobForHer, they found that more and more Indian companies are leveraging policies that are extremely friendly towards the working mothers.

According to the report, in comparison to 2019, in 2020, more Indian companies are offering multiple benefits to the working mothers to retain them as employees in their companies.

As per the survey, 60% of the Indian companies offer a 6-months paid maternity leave and 12% of the companies even offer more than that. Aside from that, they also found that 68% of companies ensure that the women are appraised for their fair performance during the year of their break too.

63% of the companies also maintain regular communication on the role of the employee when she again returns to the workplace.

But, the survey also found that only 15% of the Indian companies offer paternity leave between two weeks to a month.

The study also revealed that enterprises offer more mother-friendly policies in comparison to the SMEs and start-ups.

The survey was conducted with a total of 300 companies across the country.

"Today, women are finding ways to remain in the workforce or re-enter post their break. It is delightful to see that businesses across the country are supporting working mothers immensely with friendlier policies and are being more accommodative to their needs. We hope that this number of companies altering their work policies to make them more flexible for working mothers only increases in the future,” said Neha Bagaria, Founder and CEO of JobsForHer.

The survey conducted by JobForHer also indicate the fact that the Indian companies are realising that when a woman has to quit or resign from her job because of family restrictions and issues, it takes away a significant amount of talent from the company as well.

The report also clarified that 79% of the companies in India including enterprises, start-ups and SMEs have also rolled out flexible timing policies for women that can be availed by them. This has witnessed a sharp 20% increase since 2019.

By Somapika Dutta