In a big move to push gender equivalence, Tech Mahindra has recently announced that it will offer adoption leave and extended bereavement leave for employees with same-sex partners. After the implementation of this policy, the same-sex couples of Tech Mahindra will be eligible to avail 12-week paid adoption leave and three days of bereavement leave.
Its Chief People Officer Harshvendra Soin said, “Today, employees demand a user- and customer-like experience as well as a great human experience. At Tech Mahindra, human experience is a function of user experience, customer experience, employee experience.”
This is a big move to make people aware of the needs and wants of the LGBTQ community and it helps in removing the taboo against queerness that has persisted in society for a very long period. Also, such moves by big companies set the benchmark for other companies to adopt gender-neutral policies. Efforts like these matters to LGBTQ Indians because it gives a sense of equality and it fosters a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Not only Tech Mahindra, but other multinational giants like TCS, Deutsche Bank, and Accenture, have earlier adopted gender-neutral policies and it has been much appreciated. Also, this helps other companies to realize that employees are the most important resource for any organization and hence all employees must be treated equally.
Other workplaces must adopt such policies because it creates a sense of equality among the employees and it leads to better functionality and outputs by them which in turn benefits in the growth of such organizations.
Sadly, such policy implementation is rare. LGBTQ people in India still fear losing their jobs because of the lack of acceptance of who they are. People are still ignorant. They consider homosexuality as a mental illness.
These same-sex support policies by companies deliver a positive mindset amongst the workforce. As people say, charity begins from home. Similarly, social change starts from within. When people start supporting same-sex couples and treating them equally within an organization, only then can the mindsets of people outside of work change.