While there have been layoffs worldwide over the pandemic, Indian food delivery company Zomato has taken a phenomenal decision that has awestruck the entire nation.
On 8th August, Zomato’s CEO announced that the company would give female employees, including transgender people, up to 10 days of “period leave” per year in an effort to beat the stigma around the issue.
Over an email to all the employees, Deepinder Goyal, the Chief Executive Officer, wrote that the move is to “foster a culture of trust, truth, and acceptance“.
“There shouldn’t be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave,” he said and, rightly so.
Asking the female/trans employees to drop the hesitation, he wrote: “You should feel free to tell people on internal groups or emails that you are on your period leave for the day.”
The CEO also asked the male employees to break the taboo and be comfortable.
“A note for men – our female colleagues expressing that they are on their period leave shouldn’t be uncomfortable for us. This is a part of life, and while we don’t fully understand what women go through, we need to trust them when they say they need to rest this out. I know that menstrual cramps are very painful for a lot of women – and we have to support them through it if we want to build a truly collaborative culture at Zomato,” he wrote.
But why only 10 leaves a year?
“Most women have ~14 menstrual cycles in a year. Adjusting for the probability of you having your periods on a weekend, you can now rightfully avail 10 extra leaves compared to men. You can only take one period leave for each menstrual cycle,” explains the email.
Zomato also announced the move on their twitter handle:
Going forward, women at Zomato can avail up to 10 period leaves in a year. This also applies to transgender people working at Zomato.💁♀️
Read more here – https://t.co/GmP5rLkaNL pic.twitter.com/5f8z9xP5zk
— Zomato (@Zomato) August 8, 2020
Others who came forward to break the taboo
Paid period leaves have been spoken for years in India now.
Besides Zomato, a number of companies had taken the initiative to provide leaves to women on periods. Yet Zomato is the only company to add the transgender under the paid leave policy.
Amongst the others are several startups like Dunzo, Culture Machine, Gozoop who provide menstruation leaves. Chennai based media houses like Magzter and Matrubhumi also provide leaves for periods. Yet Zomato is the largest organization to do so.
You can read the full email here.
What is your opinion on the “Period Leaves“? Should this be included in every organization’s leave policy?