Food delivery joint Zomato has announced menstrual leave for female as well as transgender employees. They will be eligible to avail ‘period leave’ of up to 10 days per year as an effort to combat the stigma around it. The company’s CEO claims this to be a “move to foster a culture of trust, truth, and acceptance”.
Zomato is the biggest high-profile organisation to bring out this policy. Culture Machine and GoZoop were the first two organisations in the country to institute this change.
“There shouldn’t be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave,” Zomato chief executive Deepinder Goyal said in an email to staff on Saturday. “You should feel free to tell people on internal groups, or emails that you are on your period leave for the day. A note for men – our female colleagues expressing that they are on their period leave shouldn’t be uncomfortable for us. This is a part of life, and while we don’t fully understand what women go through, we need to trust them when they say they need to rest this out. I know that menstrual cramps are very painful for a lot of women – and we have to support them through it if we want to build a truly collaborative culture at Zomato,” said Goyal.
However, the CEO also added that the employees are not to abuse the provision, or use them as a crutch to take time out for other pending tasks.