The new policy will permit LGBTQ+ employees to acknowledge their partners and affords them access to benefits that have been accessible to traditional partners.
Tata’s widened Diversity & Inclusion policy means that same-sex couples will now be afforded the same health and medical benefits, joint housing points, adoption and newborn parental leave and childcare leave as those enjoyed by married couples consisting of a man and a woman. They also will have access to the employee assistance program.
Tata will also provide employees with financial help for gender reassignment surgery and 30 days of special leave. “Research shows that people are more engaged with and committed to an organisation that has policies protecting LGBTQ+ employees,” says Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Tata Steel’s vice president of human resource management. “In fact, enacting LGBTQ+ inclusive policies have been shown to decrease the instances of LGBTQ+ discrimination at work.”