Maternity Benefit act – A Bliss or a Bleed

The above differences showcase the Maternity leave conditions  of the maternity benefit act 2017. This is certainly true that we have stood exemplary in the world after making it mandatory to have maternity leave for 26 weeks even in private organisations.  Now few more questions arises?

• Would this new law helpful for women to join the workplace?
• Has the situation really improved?
• Is the workplace a better place for new and existing mother’s with applicability of Standard maternity leave policy?

Lets have a look at the following challenges which are faced  by women after  introduction of new maternity benefit act 2017.

1. Job loss in small and medium enterprises: Many larger companies have shown a welcome gesture to this law but fear prevails for small and medium size  enterprises, reason being that 6 months absence from work  results in loss of productivity.Such small companies have 1 or 2 position for a particular skill, employer find it  easy to have a replacement instead keeping it vacant for 6 months.

2. Following  Maternity Leave guidelines as per the maternity leave policy  is a costly affair for medium and small enterprises as the cost of having a crèche facility in case of  50 +  employees  etc . is an additional cost which will be borne by employer in india, therefore for them it proves out to be costly affair.

3. Defeat the purpose of gender diversit : Companies prefer hiring male candidate in a certain age group as employers have their own doubts to hire female force which might go on  pregnancy leave   in the near future. So employer prefers hiring male candidates. This further deepens the rift in widening the gender diversity.

4. Career Break: It is uncertain most of the time that woman work force would return back to work  after the maternity leave. Employers put a big  question mark on hiring of female counterparts since with leaving the organisation after availing maternity leave, the initial investment  of the company in terms of training etc. goes waste.

Measures to be taken to promote the new maternity benefit act:

1. Government should bear some costs towards the Maternity allowance  cost and it should not be the sole responsibility of the employer.

2. Paternity leave mandates must also be followed like maternity leave so that the gap between hiring a male candidate over the female candidate can be bridged.
3. Promotion of career progression for women who rejoin after the maternity break.

4. Allowing  companies to offset any additional cost burden against their company social responsibility  spending that is now required by the law.
5. Maternity leave rights  are  still not applicable to the unorganised sector  for example agriculturist, contractual labour, construction workers etc. It must be noted that vast majority of woman workforce are employed in unorganised sector.

6. Employing the Maternity leave entitlements will  not  be difficult with larger companies but smaller companies might not be able to bear the extended cost and can stop hiring more women employees.

Privilege or non cash benefits / Health benefits of Maternity Leave rules