Financial organisation HSBC India has introduced enhanced childcare benefits for employees returning to work after having a baby, as a part of its approach to supporting and improving staff work-life balance.
The organisation, which employs more than 4,000 staff in India, introduced the policy in September 2019. The new initiative will see HSBC India reimburse daycare expenses or provide a childcare allowance for all eligible female employees.
Previously, daycare reimbursement has been available only to HSBC India's female employees returning to work while caring for children under two years old. As of September 2019, the organisation has increased the maximum age, now including children up to the age of 6.
The daycare reimbursement option provides female employees with cost coverage for up to $250 (£195) per child in Mumbai, $190 (£148) in National Capital Region, Bengaluru and Pune and $141 (£109) in all other locations.
Parents who do not wish to take advantage of the available daycare reimbursement benefits are now entitled to claim $141 (£109) per month as a fixed childcare allowance. This allows staff to choose the best option as they see fit, from multiple childcare options.
The allowance is available to staff with children under two years of age, and can be claimed for each child in cases where more than one are the correct age.
HSBC India also claim to be the sole provider of this benefit in India.
Vikram Tandon, head of HR at HSBC India (pictured), said: “At HSBC, we care for our working mothers and believe in providing the best in class childcare benefits to make their lives easier.
“With the introduction of the enhanced Childcare benefit policy, we have gone a step further to empower our women employees so that they can balance work life and motherhood better. This policy provides our working mothers the flexibility to choose the best from multiple childcare options for an extended time period.”
