Zomatoâs Founder & CEO, Deepinder Goyal, recently introduced a period leave policy for its employees.
 At Zomato, we want to foster a culture of trust, truth and acceptance. Starting today, all women (including transgender people) at Zomato can avail up to 10 days of period leaves in a year â said Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal
He further said that it is a part of life, and there should be no stigma attached to it. Our female employees should be able to freely talk about it in the internal groups and apply for said leaves through the HR portal.
Keeping in mind that there can be unnecessary harassment to the employees applying for the period leave or being vocal about it, the company gives employees the right to report about it on speakup@zomato.com and necessary action will be taken. The company has also stressed and advised not to abuse these leaves or take it for granted to complete other tasks.
Explaining the reason behind availing a specific number of period leave, the company on its blog said,
Why 10? Most women have ~14 menstrual cycles in a year. Adjusting for the probability of you having your periods on a weekend, you can now rightfully avail 10 extra leaves compared to menâ
Zomato is not the first company to take the strong route and launched a period leave policy. Earlier, the State of Bihar had announced leaves for its government employees to take time during the periods. Also, Culture Machine, a digital media company based out of Mumbai, started giving leaves in addition to sick leave and vacation days.
In some parts of the world, talking about menstruation is still considered as a taboo. With more and more focus on health issues and discrimination in society, it has been a long-standing debate at the workplace. Zomato is setting an example for everyone to be vocal about menstruation and initiated period leave policy without any shame or stigma attached.
