Diageo India announced a “Family Leave Policy”, as part of its commitment to build a diverse and inclusive workplace culture. This policy offers all eligible employees a 26-week parental leave, comprising all benefits and bonuses, irrespective of gender or sexual orientation. This policy takes into consideration surrogacy, adoption, and biological conception.  

Commenting on this new policy, Aarif Aziz, Chief Human Resources Officer, Diageo India said, “At Diageo India, championing inclusion and diversity is central to our purpose of celebrating life, every day, everywhere. Our new “Family Leave Policy” is testament to this purpose. With the introduction of this policy, we recognize that all employees, regardless of gender or sexual orientation deserve an equal opportunity to avail of paid parental leave to cherish time with their new family. We believe that this will pave the way to greater equality, and talent is retained and nurtured. We take immense pride in being one of the few companies in India to introduce such a policy, and hope it soon becomes an industry norm.” 

In addition to parental leave, the “Family Leave Policy” offers Diageo India employees a host of other benefits and opportunities to enable them to optimize their career goals and ambitions, as well as personal lives. This includes 26-weeks maternity leave, flexible working hours, creche allowance, maternity, and surrogacy coverage, up to 10-weeks leave in the unfortunate event of miscarriage, and more.    

Such initiatives are crucial for building a culture that prioritises the wellbeing of its employees beyond the professional spaces. Other companies that have taken similar strides include Myntra's existing policy leave structure which offers equal parental leaves as well as Volvo Cars' recent announcement about offering paid parental leave upto six months for all its employees.