Bharti Airtel increases maternity leave to 22 weeks

The company also provides flexible work options for working mothers to ensure a smooth transition to full working hours

To promote gender diversity across all management levels, top telecom operator Bharti Airtel has increased maternity leave for its women employees to 22 weeks from 12 weeks.

This is in addition to flexible work options for working mothers to ensure a smooth transition to full working hours, the company said in a statement today.

The company's office in Gurgaon also provides modern-day care facilities for children.

Airtel said the objective of the policy is to provide adequate support to employees to balance their role as parents with professional commitments at work.

The revised policy reiterates its commitment to providing the same role or an equivalent role to the employee on return after 22 weeks.

"The rating of the employee for the assessment year will be based on the employee's performance and contribution during the period she was working," it said.

In case of adoption, if the child's age is less than 2 years, women employees can avail of 12 weeks of leave and if the age is above 2 years, a 6-week leave can be availed. Male employees can take 1 week of leave in both the cases.

"We are fully committed to promoting gender diversity across all levels of the organisation. With this new policy, our aim is to offer adequate work-life balance to women employees and ensure they continue to contribute to the Airtel growth story," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said.