Business & Money | Monday 14 August, 2017 4:07 am |

Tata Communications has launched a new caregiving policy, with enhanced support for primary and secondary caregivers. The new policy includes increased leaves for child, elderly as well as spouse’s care. It reinforces Tata Communications’ commitment towards ensuring that the employees have a well devised family care plan in place before they resume work.

 

At Tata Communications all the initiatives are specially formulated to create work environments, globally, to encourage an inclusive and motivated workforce. The newly unveiled caregiving policy has been crafted bearing in mind that both parents agnostic of gender have responsibilities towards their families. Hence, the new policy is applicable to all Tata Communications employees globally, irrespective of gender. The parental leave policy is also applicable in case of adoption and foster placement.

 

The key highlights of this policy include:

• 26 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers (irrespective of gender) to take care of their new-born child or their adopted child under the age of one

• Two weeks of paid parental leave for secondary caregivers to their new-born or adopted child

• Six weeks of paid childcare leave in case of a serious medical condition or special-needs child

• Long leave for dependent care of up to 12 months in case of a critical medical condition of a dependent (child, spouse or parent)

 

Tata Communications’ policies are crafted keeping in mind that all employees are provided a safe home environment for their family so they are able to perform to the best of their abilities at work. In regions like Singapore, where the mandated paid maternity leave period is 16 weeks, Tata Communications’ new caregiving policy ensures a work environment that provides ample opportunities for work-life balance to its employees.

 

Details of the new caregiving policy in Singapore vs. the statutory standard are as follows:

 

	Statutory	New Policy
Primary care-giver Leave (originally called maternity leave)	16 weeks if child is Singapore citizen   12 weeks if child is adopted below the age of 12 months	26 weeks company paid leave for primary care-giver
Secondary care-giver Leave (originally called paternity Leave)	2 weeks if child is Singapore citizen (with up to 4 additional weeks of shared parental leave from wife’s 16-week maternity leave)	2 weeks company paid leave for secondary care-givers (can be taken in 2 tranches of one week each)
Childcare leave	-	6 weeks company paid leave (can be taken in 3 tranches of maximum 2 weeks each during the entire tenure at Tata Communications)
Dependent care leave	-	Unpaid leave up to 12 months

 

In 2014, Tata Communications launched its global diversity and inclusion programme – The Winning Mix – as a core, strategic business imperative every day, everywhere. The new caregiving policy reiterates the company's commitment to the programme. The provisions of the parental, child care and long leave policies are a huge step ahead as compared to the industry norms.