What Makes Zomato's Parental Policies a Revolutionary Step for the Indian Start-up Ecosystem? If India is on its way to becoming a start-up nation, then the role of start-ups is perhaps way beyond and profound than just providing solutions

Talking about millennials, giving birth can be an exciting and joyful idea but not without the worry of work-life balance.

Zomato recently announced that it is offering 26 weeks of paid leave to parents including the non-birthing partners and $1000 will be offered per child on the onset of the moment when couples start a new life with their child.

Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Zomato, posted on a blog, "For women across the globe (we have teams in 13 countries as we speak), we will be offering 26 weeks paid leave, or will follow the government mandated policy, whichever is more. We will be offering exactly the same benefits to men as well. There won't be even an iota of difference in parental leave policy for men and women at Zomato going forward."

He further added, "These policy changes are applicable to even those Zomans who have had a child within the last 6 months."

What Makes Zomato's Step Revolutionary?

The state of parental leave in India is sad and desperate. While MNCs, IT and tech giants provide a host of benefits and perks to birthing and sometimes, even to the non-birthing partners, India's population which seem to be largely dependent on smaller businesses for employment find it difficult to fully exhaust the policies of paternal leave.

Start-ups are by and large a revolutionary concept as far as India is concerned. If India is on its way to becoming a start-up nation, then the role of start-ups is perhaps way beyond and profound than just providing solutions to based on technology.

In 2015, Facebook announced that the four-month leave option was available for all irrespective or gender. According to HP's data, the highest paternity leave is offered by Netflix which is 52 weeks, next in line is Microsoft with 22 weeks. In such a scenario, what Zomato has done is indeed a revolutionary step.

The Indian Context

According to UNICEF, India is among almost 90 countries in the world without national policies in place that ensure new fathers get adequate paid time off with their newborn babies.

However, start-ups are recognizing the importance of employee retention and the need to project themselves as society-friendly. Nowadays, business is not only about mere transaction of money, but brands are also focusing on building a reputation that has principles in consonance with the needs of society.

Start-ups, which are massively endowed with young employees, are serious when it comes to the matters of employee retention. When an old employee leaves the organization, the entire structure gets disturbed. Vacation perks, healthcare insurance and most essentially, maternal and paternal leaves are the biggest retention tools a start-up can provide an employee.