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Zomato Announces 26 Weeks Paid Paternal Leave. Are Other Companies Listening?

In an attempt to tackle the issue of a drop in the number of women in the workforce, especially post-marriage, food delivery giant Zomato has introduced paid paternity leave for its employees. Since this logic might not make sense to many with a patriarchal bent, here’s the breakdown: fathers should be more involved in raising their own kids, and should be allowed leaves to do so.

According to Indian law, maternity leave of 26 weeks is mandatory for the new mothers across organisations in India, but there is no such law for the fathers.

The food delivery giant has announced 26 weeks paid paternity leave for its male employees. According to Deepinder Goyal, founder of the organisation, one of the core issues that leads to fewer woman leaders in organisations is the lack of universal paid paternity leave. “Currently, it is hard for women to lead a healthy family life and focus on their careers, leading to a lot of women leaving their jobs or putting their careers on the back burner. This results in a pressing lack of diversity across all levels of the organization, and needs to be solved proactively,” he wrote in his blog post.

The company’s new policy will also be granted to non-birthing parents in cases of surrogacy, adoption, and same-sex partners. It also plans to give $1,000 endowment per child. “People produce their best work when their personal and professional goals meaningfully intersect and align,” said Deepinder Goyal.

The move was lauded by the netizens who believe this inclusive step will inspire other organisations to follow suit.

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