We all look forward to a new world but, ironically, scared of changing ourselves. However, not this man. By introducing a much-needed new parental leave policy to empower his employees, Zomato’s founder Deepinder Goyal leads the change.
Addressing to the core issue of why there are a handful of female leaders in the organizations, communities and the nation today, he believes that it is due to the lack of universal unpaid leave, which makes it challenging for them to focus on their career and as a result most of them opt out of their jobs, mentions the founder of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal in a blog post.
“Gandhi said – ’be the change you wish to see in the world’. Which is why we have made some changes to our parental leave policies today. For women across the globe (we have teams in 13 countries as we speak), we will be offering 26 weeks paid leave or will follow the government mandated policy, whichever is more. We will be offering exactly the same benefits to men as well,” wrote Goyel.
Zomato announced that it will be a 26 week paid leave policy across the globe and will be valid both for men and women working with this firm. The policy is also applicable to non-birthing parents, and in cases of surrogacy, adoption, and same-sex partners and Zomans who have had a child within the last 6 months will also benefit from the scheme. What’s more? It will also give an endowment of $1000 per child to the new parents.
“According to me, a lot of that imbalance at the top stems from an unequal leave policy for men and women when they welcome their children to this world,” he added.
Deepinder points out how the gender imbalance in the senior ranks within the organization makes it impossible to maintain equality between men and women in the workplace. “This happens for various reasons – societal norms, precedents, and sometimes, even government policies,” he wrote.
While by no stretch of imagination can anyone take away the glory of the woman as the bearer of a new life, we can at the same time accept that there are dads who are and want to be hands-on from the word go when it comes to parenting. Because the child is not only a mother’s responsibility. With Zomato’s parental leave policy in place, gender equality makes its way into our everyday lives.
Do you think it’s a much needed welcome change in the parental leave policy? Should this be also implemented in other organizations to create a healthy and equal work environment?