Zomato rolls out period leave policy for female and transgender employees
Female employees, including the transgender people, at Zomato can avail 10 days of period leave every year. Co-founder Deepinder Goyal urges to freely communicate without shame and stigma while applying for period leaves.
Delhi-based foodtech unicorn Zomato introduced period leave policy for all female employees, including the transgender people. They can avail 10 days of period leave per year, one each for every menstrual cycle.
Aimed at fostering an inclusive “culture of trust, truth, and acceptance," the startup requested its employees not to abuse the policy “to take time out for other pending tasks.”
(Picture credit: Zomato blog)
In an official blogpost, Deepinder Goyal, Co-founder and CEO of Zomato wrote, “It is our job to make sure that we make room for our biological needs, while not lowering the bar for the quality of our work and the impact that we create.”
However, while most women go through 14 menstrual cycles in a year, the startup clarified that offering 10 days is adjusted with the probability of getting periods during the weekend.
The startup urged its employees to freely communicate while availing period leaves to their internal groups via email. It emphasised that there should not be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave.
If subjected to unnecessary harassment, or distasteful comments from men or women for seeking the period leave, or being vocal about it, employees can report them, and Zomato’s prevention of sexual harassment (POSH) team will take action.
Penning a note to its male employees, it said that female colleagues expressing their period leave should not be uncomfortable.
“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,” Deepinder adds.
Period leave at workplaces has been a longstanding debate to ensure equal opportunity for all gender. In July 2017, Mumbai-based digital media startup Culture Machine also started implementing period leave.
Edited by Suman Singh