News: Johnson & Johnson India extends paternity leave to eight weeks

Employee Relations

Johnson & Johnson India extends paternity leave to eight weeks

With the unveiling of this policy, new and adoptive fathers will now have eight weeks of paid leave to bond with the newborn or newly adopted child
Johnson & Johnson India extends paternity leave to eight weeks

Johnson & Johnson India has augmented its paternity leave policy to eight weeks of paid leave during the first year of birth or adoption, as per a company release. The company has already been offering 26 weeks of maternity leaves to new mothers for the last six years, well before the latest Maternity Benefit Amendment Act kicked in.

While there is currently no provision on paternity leave for employees in the private sector as per the Indian Labour law, Johnson & Johnson India will offer eight weeks of paternity leave in accordance with the company’s new ‘Global Parental Leave’ approach.

Indrajeet Sengupta, Johnson & Johnson India’s Head of human resources said, “Parental leave truly allows us live into our values by putting people first—helping employees live well across their whole lives. We understand that supporting our employees extends beyond work and into other aspects of their lives.” 

Explaining the broader impact and reasoning for the move, he added: “Championing work-life integration is critically important to us and to our future as a company. Enhanced benefits make us attractive towards Millennials and GenZs, who are critical to our future workforce. By extending parental leave benefits to fathers and adoptive parents, we also strengthen our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and support for the modern-day family—because every family is special.” 

The company cited the findings from a study conducted by lead researcher Ronald Rohner which demonstrated that the effect of the father’s love is as great as (and occasionally greater too) on a child’s development than the effect of mother’s love. Furthermore, children who feel loved by their father have a better sense of well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction in their adult life. 

Another study illustrated that the level of interactions between the father and the infant at the age of three months can predict whether or not the child will have behavioral problems at the age of one year. 

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Topics: Employee Relations, Life @ Work

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