FlyMyBiz, a digital media company in Kolkata will be offering menstrual leave to the women employees from January 1, 2019. FlyMyBiz, which has been in operation from one year, has become the first company in Kolkata to introduce menstrual leave and the third company all over India, after two Mumbai-based companies.
New year ‘gift’
According to The Indian Express, Samyo Datta, who is the founder and CEO of the company, said that all the women employed in his company will get one extra leave every month, from January 2019 onwards.That means, besides other holidays, the women employees will be getting 12 extra holidays as their period leave.
When asked why he has come up with such an idea, Samyo Datta replied, “Employee satisfaction is my duty. If they are content, I will be happy too.” He has also made it a clear point that by offering the period leave to the female employees, he is not doing any favour to them.He has said that as social stigmas are still attracted to menstruation in our society, a woman has to go through a lot of hardships, along with the physical and the mental pain. He thinks that this is a small act on his part to stand beside women.
The CEO has informed that he has got an overwhelming response from the employees of his company after they got to know his decision. According to him, all the 12 women employees have happily accepted his decision. He also mentioned to The Indian Express, “The male employees too have equally welcomed the initiative of the firm.”
Common practice in some countries
The concept of period leave is not a new one. It has been a long time since the developed countries of the world like Australia and Japan have been offering menstrual leave to their women employees. Now, developing countries like India are also gradually adopting such concept to make it more comfortable for female employees to work. A country with happy and healthy human resources not only grows prosperously in terms of GDP but also becomes more developed in terms of Human Development Index(HDI).
Also Read: Research Shows That Pain During Menstruation Can Be As Bad As A Heart Attack, But Do We Care?
