Flipkart encourages staff to adopt kids, offers benefits

Offers Rs 50,000 allowance and a liberal leave structure

After a slew of policy revamps in favour of dads-and mothers-to-be, e-commerce major Flipkart is encouraging its employees to adopt children, offering them incentives and maternity benefits for the cause.

The new ‘Adoption Assistance Program’ will provide financial assistance of upto Rs 50,000 for the adopting employees to meet legal, agency and regulatory expenses that may arise during the process, the company said in a post on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

While adopting a child below 12 months, a woman employee can “avail the same leave benefits as under the maternity leave policy”. This includes six months of paid leave and four months of flexible working hours. If the child is above 12 months, the mother can get up to three months of paid leave and four months of flexible working hours.

The male employees are entitled to up to 6 weeks of ‘paid adoption leave’ that should be availed of oneself within the first six months coupled with four months of flexible working hours.

On similar lines of the revamped maternity/paternity leaves, the adopting parents can also take unpaid leave of upto three months. The company said in the Twitter post that it would be offering counselling and referral services to employees exploring the option of adoption and also to those who have already adopted.