Bengaluru-based online furniture and home decor startup Urban Ladder has revised its maternity benefits policy, in line with industry trends and in an effort to prevent women at mid to senior levels dropping out of the workforce when they become mothers.

“We enjoy a healthy diversity ratio – 38% of our workforce is comprised of women. We intend to take this number to 50%. We had many group discussions and looked at industry-wide policies, and revamped our maternity benefits to make our company much more inclusive for women,” said Geetika Mehta, Director – Human Resources.

Previously, women employees going on maternity leave could take three months of paid leave and an additional three months of unpaid leave. Now, under the new policy, women taking maternity leave can take six months of paid leave, with an option to avail an additional three months of part-time work on equivalent pay basis, or an additional three months of unpaid leave. These benefits will also apply in cases of adoption and surrogacy. The new policy is effective 1st April 2016 onwards.

This apart, the company also provides Rs. 1 lakh of coverage for normal and C-section deliveries. Urban Ladder has around 350 employees in its corporate team.

Source- The Economic Times