Citibank India launches WFH option for 12 months post maternity leave

Citibank India has launched a work-from-home (WFH) option for its women employees who can now request to work from home for up to 12 months at the end of their maternity leave of 26 weeks. According to a statement by the company, women employees can also avail three months of WFH in their last trimester of pregnancy.

This potentially provides a cumulative period of 21 months of working from home for expecting and new mothers.

In June 2021, the Centre issued an advisory to the state and union territory governments to encourage WFH for nursing mothers.

Citibank India is among the first organisations to implement the maternity-linked WFH initiative. Earlier, ICICI Bank, under Chanda Kocchar, had launched iWork@home an initiative that allowed one year WFH for women based on their requirements.

“We are delighted to pioneer this for our women colleagues across the Citi India franchise. Most studies on women’s participation in the workforce suggest that women tend to drop out or take a long break in their employment during this stage, which impacts their careers and eventually the percentage of women at senior levels in organisations,” said Aditya Mittal, chief human resource officer at Citi India & South Asia.

“Hopefully, this will encourage more industry initiatives to implement the Centre’s vision.”

Citibank India has over 30,000 employees, out of which 38 per cent are women.

Megha Mangal, the digital software engineer for personal banking and wealth management, recently resumed her maternity break. 

“The peace of mind knowing that I could continue contributing to my job working from home made my transition into motherhood so much smoother,” she said.