The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 is a landmark Act which has placed India amongst the league of progressive, developed countries with respect to maternity benefits. It not only extends the maternity leave benefit period but also introduces leave for adopting and commissioning mother’s work from home provision, crèche facility, nursing provisions and notification of these benefits.
While some of the changes are quite clear, there are some provisions which require clarity. ProEves Managing the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017-18 Survey aims to capture market practices with respect to how companies are complying with the Act. It is a comprehensive study across 70 organizations covering various sectors like FMCG, IT, manufacturing, ITES, eCommerce, retail, financial services making this study the single largest study on maternity, childcare and parental support practices in India.
Most companies are taking the amendments positively, as the policy changes will help in achieving a gender balanced workforce which is a priority for companies. Working parents is an increasing pie of the working population and enabling provisions likes crèche facility, work from home support will not only help the women on maternity but also today’s working parents. Contrary to the earlier negative reactions, in our survey, 67% of the surveyed companies are positive about the new amendments to the Maternity Benefit Act, while 24% are neutral.
The Amendment has introduced a crèche clause which has come as a surprise to many companies. This is the real enabler and a game changer for gender diversity. Proeves survey states childcare is the no 1 enabler that women want from employers. 81% companies are considering a daycare tie-up (near site, shared set-up, multi-site). With the balance 10% investing an in onsite set up and 9% still to act upon. With Tie ups being the most prevalent approach, companies have to decide on the distance from the daycare centre as such distance needs to be comfortable for employees to pick, drop and nurse the child. For companies with onsite daycare a less than 1 Km distance exists, those with tie-ups are trying to achieve a distance of under 3/3-5 km.
Little Big World, a Pune-based chain has been supporting some interesting daycare programmes across India, not just in Pune, but also in Baramati, Satara, Bangalore, Hyderabad and soon in Mumbai. Chirag Shah, Founder, Little Big World explains, “much before the MBA, we have seen some interesting traction in the manufacturing space in and around Pune. Companies here have larger campuses, have been compliant with the Factories Act crèche provision and the nuclear population here generates enough demand”
Little Big World started its first onsite daycare for a small factory of Cummins group in 2013. “We started with 3 kids at this small plant of theirs, today we support Cummins daycare programmes across 3 of their factories and also their head-office. Over the years, Cummins has set several benchmarks for gender diversity initiatives and in phases, built up daycare capacity for almost 300 kids.”
Little Big World also runs daycares at factories in remote locations of Satara and Baramati. Ferrero, a chocolate making and packaging unit in Baramati MIDC region, Maharashtra employing over a 1,000 women has provided a 240+ kids kindergarten over a 4 acres’ piece of land adjacent to their factory. Ferrero has commissioned Little Big World, to operate this kindergarten on exceedingly high principles of safety, cleanliness, nutrition and utmost care. The space includes 6 age – appropriate classrooms well equipped with the latest AV equipment, CCTVs, a full-fledged kitchen, firefighting equipment, emergency exits, semi open verandas, well-equipped medical room besides acres of open lush green space for the kids. The curriculum is set right from infant aged 4 months – 6-year-old children in two shifts from 6.00 am – 10.00 pm.
“These regions pose some unique operational challenges. We have to go much beyond what we offer in Pune and other metros. Here we have to deal with malnourishment among kids coming from underprivileged background, support timely vaccinations, organize hygiene and education awareness workshops for parents, and a lot more.” Says Priti Shah, co-founder and Chief Learning Officer, Little Big World.
“Post MBA, we have seen a good surge in demand for bulk seats at our daycares in corporate parks. Several Indian and MNC IT, ITES, BFSI companies prefer to block and also pay for the daycare fees on behalf of their employees. Our presence across IT parks of East and West Pune help companies and parents retain same daycare service even when they move offices/ employers.
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