To promote gender diversity Edelweiss Group has extended the paid maternity leave to 26 weeks from the current 12 for its women employees. The company has also increased adoption leave benefits to 12 weeks, three times what was offered previously. 

Edelweiss Group introduced a programme ‘Women Empowered’ with lucrative benefits to strengthen women workforce in India. 

Kalpana Ajayan, Head of strategic human resources said, 

Twenty-six days of maternity leave will be given to women for the first two children and for more than two children the leave duration will be 12 weeks.’

Those who use surrogates to bear a child will also get the same benefits as in adoption. The aim is to increase the share of women in its total headcount to 30% over five years from the current 19%. 

The company also promises to give many monetary benefits such as providing Rs 5,000 per month of maternity leave allowance during pregnancy in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad and 3,500 in other cities. 

Revising the maternity leave policy is the first step towards ensuring the required support employees need to pursue their career goals while raising a family.

Edelweiss Group has a huge talent pool of female workforce of about 19% from the previous 13% four years ago creating opportunities for women in leadership, bringing equality and varied skill sets to the table. The company aims to increase women workforce at the senior management level to 20% in five years.