Don't leave out dad

Sweden offers up to seven weeks off the UK and USA give two weeks off to male employees as paternity leave but the concept is relatively new in India So while the joy of holding your newborn is unparalleled and is said to be the best gift a couple can give each other Indias dads dont have it easy The anxiety and stress of wailing babies coupled with sleepless nights come with playing father Add to that office pressures most men find it tough to cope with the early days of parenting and end up using chunks of casual and sick leave in the initial period after the baby is bornParenting is dual responsibility This period will help fathers develop a stronger bond with the child from birth and make them more responsible familyoriented and contented as also reported in an OECD Organizations for Economic CoOperation and Development report in 2013 says Dr Nidhi Maheswari Asst Professor HROB Asia Pacific Institute of Management New Delhi Stresses and complications that a mother experiences in the early days of raising a child can be relieved by the fathers involvement hence paternity leave improves the emotional health of the whole family she reasonsNeed of the hourExecutive Coach Khyati Birla says At a social level families are becoming nuclear Paternity leave is a requisite and not a luxury anymore You need to take plenty of decisions at crucial times if the father is unavailable at that point it disintegrates the relationship A sleepless father worried about the new baby and mother cannot be productive for the company A twoweek break is ideal to get things in order but even a workfromhome option or flexitimings might helpBratin and Teesta Roy36yearold Abhay Salitri VP IndusInd Bank who became a father three months ago and was an employee of YES Bank then was given a fourday paternity leave according to the HR policy of the bank The first few days are extremely stressful Parenting is an avalanche of chaos You feel highly vulnerable and have erratic sleep cycles The fiveday leave weekend included helped a lot and is important he recallsAbhay and Kimaya SalitriHis wife 33yearold Pranali Salitri adds Often for a normal delivery women are admitted to the hospital but do not go into labour immediately In such cases paternity leave should be flexible In my case it was a Csection so it was better planned After discharge from the hospital in about three days where everything was taken care of you need another twothree days to settle down at home which is the toughest time After the first week or 10 days the female relatives took over the mother too is in a better position to handle herself and the baby hence the weeklong leave was perfectPrakash and Vansh JadhavPrakash Jadhav Assistant Manager Corporate Customer Care Airtel was blessed with a baby boy in November 2014 I had just joined a company and couldnt take additional casual leave I got three days leave but it was too little as we were living on our own I took two days off when my wife was admitted to the hospital and a third day off on the day of her discharge I also had to take leave in my previous company Loop Mobile because of complications in my wifes pregnancy but my boss was accommodating A two weekleave period is ideal he maintainsBratin Roy Manager Raymond Limited was given a fourday paternity leave that he used while his wife was in the hospital for her delivery and to handle the paper work and formalities at the hospitalLeave mattersA source from the Indian Army says Even though it might not be there in black and white whenever the boys have such a requirement we send them on leave The soldiers NCOs NonCommissioned Officers and JCOs Junior Commissioned Officers are authorised 60 days of annual leave and 30 days of casual leave and as a policy we endeavour to give them their total entitlementDeepak Gianani Process Manager HR E Clerx an IT BPO company mentions that their company gives their employees a 10day paternity leave that can be split into two halves The fiveday leave can be taken anytime between 12 weeks prior to or 12 weeks after the birth of the childMost employees club this with the weekend and get 14 days off he informsHospitality veterans Taj Group of Hotels grant a oneweek paternity leave to its employees Parenting is a shared responsibility We feel extending paternity leave is an important step towards understanding and appreciating the needs of a new parent elaborates Dr PV Ramana Murthy Senior Vice President Global Head mdash Human Resources Taj Group of HotelsGodrej offers 10 working days of paternity leave two weeks with weekend a policy that was revised in 2015Avedh Mohan Mangle Assistant Manager HR Accenture says that they give three days off but it has to be consecutive I have also worked with Capgemini in the past and they offer three days which is sufficient he believesWhile scouring for inputs we learnt that advertising company Madison Tata Consultancy Services and courier company DTDC were among many that do not have a paternity leave policy