Earlier this month, some companies stirred a heated debate over the concept of period leave when they announced a policy allowing women to take an extra day off every month. However, a city-based startup has been implementing this policy for over a year without any fuss.
Dunzo, a daily tasks management app, has 61 employees, 13 of them women. The company was launched in April 2015 and the period leave policy came into effect in May 2016.
Kabeer Biswas, co-founder and CEO of Dunzo, said he had observed that women in his family and colleagues often had trouble during their period and were “unable to give their best even if they wanted to”.
“One of our employees messaged on the office group and said she was not going to come to work because she had cramps. There is a cultural change in the country where people are ready to talk about [menstruation]. So we began thinking about it and our HR discussed this with the employees and implemented the policy,” he said. Though the number of days is not mentioned in the policy (and not monitored), Mr. Biswas said no employee has availed more than a day a month.
Preethi H.V., 26, who is the operations administrator for the company, said: “Sometimes you are not able to give your body rest when you are at work while on your period. Your efficiency goes down. So it is better to take a day’s rest and return to work.”
Salonie Mehta, a finance executive in the company, has availed period leave for 10 months. “I am glad the company understood the importance of giving personal space and time so that we can relax during this time,” she said.
Some women are often in a dilemma on whether they should avail the period leave if there is an important meeting or presentation to make. In such cases, they either choose to come to office briefly or work through Google Hangouts or on call. According to Ms. Preethi, this decision is left to the employee.
Monica Kamath, an HR executive with the company, said: “If I want to avail my period leave and an employee has a joining date, I see if someone else can step in for me. If not, I go to office, do the priority work and leave,” she said.
