If the touchstone of a society’s success is how much time it provides its people for leisure, India is definitely booming. Gone are the days when strenuous 15-hour work schedules were followed by some more 15-hour work schedules. The companies are finally paying heed that they need to maintain the work-life balance of the employees. And make no mistake, for this is no philanthropy. The companies have realised that breaks and some quality family time is a must if they want to preserve the mental capital of their workforce. So in comes a whole gamut of leaves -- paternity leave, marriage leave, bereavement leave, special occasion leave, extended maternity leave and, hold your breath, compulsory leave! IP gets the leave calendar of the biz world…
Take leave you must
Some companies are actually forcing their employees to take off a few days and do their thing. HR managers say companies understand that employees have a life and responsibilities outside work, and so are coming up with leave policies that help them maintain this balance.
Birla Soft stipulates a ten-day mandatory holiday for its employees. Narendra Puppala, Vice President Global HR of the company says, “We have a policy that says an employee has to take a minimum of 10 days paid leave in a year. It is called compulsory leave. We want the employees to take a break and come back fresh. The manager’s performance is measured by how many people have taken that leave in his department.”
Many multinational banks also do not want their employees to slog the year round. They offer one-month leave in a year, and encourage them to travel. Many of the companies and BPO’s thrive on such a system, as it is a good tool for employee retention. Adds Achal Khanna of Kelly Services, “The employee should not feel that he is indispensable to the company. As long as people understand their responsibility towards the company they are entitled to such leave.”
Leave it to dad
Paternity leave was unheard in India until a few years ago, but many companies are following the Western pattern now. They are offering employees who have just become fathers leaves from five days to one month to look after the new-born baby. Amit Kumar (name changed), working in an international bank took a week off, and says he valued every minute he could spend with his newborn son. He says, “I returned to work after a week although I was allowed a month as I felt I was required here.”
Adds Puppala, “We allow employees to take two days paternity leave but we have a proposal to increase it. Our leave is entirely employee driven. We structure the leave the way they want to suit their needs.”
A studied break
And if you are a young graduate who has decided to work before sitting for that CAT and GMAT exam, don’t worry. You don’t have to quit your job in order to prepare for these tests. Many companies offer study breaks for as long as two months to their young employees. And if an employee wants to study further, many companies now offer the option of taking a career break leave. In such a system, he can go ahead, complete his education and join back the company after that.
And the miscellaneous…
And then some of the new-age companies like SAP Labs offer other kinds of leave such as “Force Majeure leave” – that is leave to look after an immediate family member. Dheeraj Gupta, an employee, says, “Leave is not an issue. If I want to go out for a long weekend, I know nobody is going to raise an eyebrow.” And IBM offers its employees the option to take up to one year off to pursue interests like “focused child care, education and travel.”
Joseph John, the HR head of Wipro, says, “We give the employee the option to club their leave the way they want. If they want to club it with a weekend, it is their choice.” The idea is to make the employee live his life without worrying about what the boss is going to say. “If someone asks for five days leave if there is a marriage in the family, we give it to the employee. The basic message is to tell them that if they are doing well the company will also look after them,” says Manju Malkani, General Manager HR of HDFC Bank.