Air India Revamps Policies For Women Staff Including 26 Weeks Of Maternity Leave

New Delhi: Air India will provide 26 weeks of maternity leave to women employees as well as daycare support under its revamped policies. Besides, the airline will give women pilots the choice to opt for quicker turnaround flights till the child reaches the age of one year. The option will be subject to request and availability, according to an internal communication.

The revised policies, to be effective from April 1, are part of the carrier’s ‘MOMS – Returning Mothers Programme’. MOMS refers to ‘Making Our Mothers Soar’.

Women employees will get maternity leave for 26 weeks, including for commissioning and adopting mothers, as per the communication. Currently, the maternity leave is for 12 weeks.

Also Read: Self Care For Mothers: What Is Postpartum Depression And How Can New Mothers Overcome The Condition?

A commissioning mother refers to one who commissions a surrogate mother to bear a child on her behalf while adopting mother is one who legally adopts a child.

Under the programme, a woman employee can avail of nutrition guidance and day care facility on a co-pay model. There will also be counselling sessions to “address mental well-being, preparation for childbirth and plans to return to work for expectant mothers”, the communication said.

Air India, which was taken over by Tata Group in January last year, has more than 5,000 women employees, including flying and non-flying staff. This accounts for around 40 per cent of the total headcount of nearly 11,000 people.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.