A look at Indian agencies and their paternity leave policies

• With Father’s Day around the corner, we decided to look at how the Indian agency network is slowly moving towards building an equal space for both men and women at work by offering paternity leaves.
• We observe when these policies were added into their system to understand how long it took them to realise that new fathers also deserve paid leaves to be able to share the load equally at home.
• The agencies we reached out offer paternity leave for 1-2 weeks.

For the longest time, paternity leave wasn’t a concept in India. It was mothers who took care of the household chores and new-born kid(s). Fathers, on the other hand, either did not have an option to take leaves or they did not feel comfortable availing paternity leave in the fear of losing their job role to someone else in that short period of time.

In India, paternity leaves are usually offered for one or two weeks, as opposed to 26 weeks or 182 days for new mothers. This wide gap, according to Feminism in India, exists because new mothers need more time to physically heal and secondly, because of the bias that fathers do not need to stay home as much as mothers since they take on the child-rearing responsibilities for a longer time.

India is still 90 out of the 187 countries in the world with no national policies to ensure that fathers get enough paid time off with their infants and wives, when they need them the most. Zomato and Novartis are the only two companies in our country that offer a 26-week-long paternity leave.

With Father’s Day around the corner, we decided to collate a list of Indian agencies who do offer paternity leave, for how long and look back at the year they added it to reflect on India’s progress in shaping gender equality.

The Glitch

Highest amongst all, The Glitch offers a paternal leave upto 15 days which can be extended to 30 days/one month if requested by the employee.

Dentsu Aegis Network:

The paternity leave offered at DAN is of 15 days, which a father can avail within the first three months of the newborn. According to Sunil Seth, Head HR Business Partner- South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, the paternal care policy was added since the network’s inception.

FCB India:

Added on April 01, 2017, FCB India offers its new fathers a two-week leave. A male employee who legally adopts a child below the age of three months is also entitled to paternity leave of two weeks.

MullenLowe Lintas:

This agency grants 15 working days as paternity leave, within the first three months after the delivery of the child.

Tonic Worldwide:

15 days of leave, offered since 2017 for both biological and adoptee parents. Expectant parents have no cap on work-from-home. They can operate from home for as many days as they want.

Schbang

Placed since its inception, Schbang offers a paternity leave for 15 days along with flexible working hours and work from home options that are made available to the new parent.

Kinnect

Offers a paternity leave of 15 days and is happy to accommodate requests for extended leaves.

White Rivers Media:

Biological/Adoptee Fathers are given 15 days of paid leave and upto 3 additional weeks of optional work from home. The above leaves can be availed within the first 6 months of the birth of the baby.

The Womb:

Time-off as per what employees need. Usually offers two weeks.

VMLY&R India:

All male full-time employees are entitled to 10 days of Paternity leave, which can be combined with planned or sick leave.

DDB Mudra:

DDB Mudra Group has had a paternity leave policy in place since 2011 and offers a upto 5 days of paid Paternity Leave immediately post the birth of the child and another 5 days within 6 months of the birth of the child.

The 120 Media Collective:

The 120 Media Collective has had paternity leave policy in place since 2012. It offers the new parent (biological/adoptive) a paid leave of 10 working days which can be extended and combined with regular leaves. It also has flexible working hours and a work from home option to help the new parent ease themselves into their new way of life.

Wunderman Thompson

Its Paternity Leave Policy offers 5 working days off immediately after the birth of the baby, which is applicable in the case of adoption as well as surrogacy. This policy has been around for around 5 years at Wunderman Thompson. It has also launched a group initiative called 'Safe Room' where working fathers will be given space to candidly share and discuss the unique challenges that come with being a working dad.

Gozoop:

Any employee who is entitled to paternity benefits gets 5 days of leave before or after the child is born. Employee also gets the option of dividing his working hours by spending four hours at the office and the rest at home for the duration of 15 days.

Here is hoping that more companies and agencies join the list and adopt the 26-week paid leave policy for new fathers.

Disclaimer: We reached out to as many Indian agencies as we could. If we missed adding your agency here, email us the details at karuna@timesbridge.com