The Centre’s move to amend the Maternity Benefit Act, increase paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks and introduce paid parental leave of 12 weeks for commissioning mothers (using surrogates to bear a child) and adopting mothers, demonstrates India’s investment in early child care and its holistic view of working women.

This proposal aims to implement WHO and the Union ministry of health and family welfare guidelines, which emphasise that a baby needs to be nursed by its mother for a minimum of six months. This has brought cheer to working women in the private sector, but concerns have been raised on its implications for both, employers and women employees, and all is not expected to be smooth sailing.

The major concern is that of affordability for smaller companies that may struggle to meet the increased financial burden of providing longer paid maternity leave. It is anticipated that women will lose touch with work-related developments, become distracted by baby and family, and lag behind on resuming work.

Further, being limited to the organised sector, the proposal may benefit less than a quarter of working women. The proposal may also affect the employability of women in general and that of young married women in particular, as they may be dismissed, not hired or otherwise discriminated against.

A good start Whatever the outcome, drafting the Bill, and the debate and discussion around it, is a good start to recognising and empathising with the needs of working women planning families. It shows the value both government and employers put on the work of women. Though the concerns being raised may have some legitimacy, the multi-dimensional benefits expected to accrue will hopefully outweigh the negatives.

A considerate establishment wins the loyalty and trust of employees. The return of an employee after a break also makes economic sense. It is more expensive to let a competent, trained and experienced employee leave. The return of the employee saves on the cost of recruiting, training and giving work experience to a new employee. This is a fact.

Female employees of Accenture, full-timers and part-timers, are entitled to receive 22 weeks of paid maternity leave. Intel India recently announced increase of maternity leave benefits to 5 months and doubled paternity leave benefits from 5 to 10 working days.

Women returning from maternity leave are given the option to work part-time on full pay for up to 1 month after they return to work. Other companies can be expected to follow suit.

Effecting change When Google increased maternity leave it observed that the attrition rate of women employees reduced by half. Leaving a job to raise a family is a compromise that women are often required to make in our society. It is not a willing choice for a majority. Better maternity benefits will help women follow their career goals while raising a family.

More and more private employers are gradually adopting women-friendly policies. Some of the ways this is being done is by offering a light workload, flexible or reduced working hours, and work from home facility for the first few weeks after the woman resumes work. Such support is known to result in sustained work-life balance, peace of mind and enhanced productivity.

Increasing paid maternity benefit from 12 weeks to 26 will catapult India into the league of countries offering high maternity benefits. Thus, the proposed amendment is the next logical step in reforming the policy on maternity benefits for working mothers in India.

While there is no doubt that India has a long way to go before it can bring all types of workers into the net of a maternity benefit scheme, this is a good first step; it will indicate to the world that India is serious about bringing gender balance to its workforce. The benefit is expected to be widespread and at all levels leading to a larger number of women reaching the top of the corporate ladder.

The writer is a partner at J Sagar Associates

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