In a welcome move, Tata Steel, one of the biggest steel companies in the world has revised their HR policy to allow LGBTQ+ employees to declare their partners in order to avail all HR benefits accepted under the law.
In a statement Tata Steel said:
With its vision to provide equal opportunity to the employees, it has been an endeavour of the company to create an enabling workforce for all diverse groups, respecting and embracing the differences in the individuals.
Under the new policy, Tata Steel employees will be able to avail a host of benefits, including health check-up, medical facilities, adoption leave, newborn parent and child care leave, and inclusion in employee assistance programme (EAP), for themselves and their partners.
Employees will also get financial assistance for gender reassignment surgery and 30 days special leave for the same. New employees can also avail the Tata Executive Holiday Plan, honeymoon package and domestic travel coverage.
Research shows that people are more engaged with and committed to an organization that has policies protecting LGBTQ+ employees. In fact, enacting LGBTQ+ inclusive policies have been shown to decrease the instances of LGBTQ+ discrimination at work.
People on Twitter also welcomed this move with positive comments.
Many Congratulations
— RAMESH JBHOJWANI (@RAMESHJBHOJWANI) December 10, 2019
Another win https://t.co/h6gB0xKmDX
— Sayanya Goswami (@sayanya9) December 10, 2019
Wow!!! Amazing @TataSteelLtd !!! So proud of you! Wonderful work #lgbtq https://t.co/X4RKc1HLGk
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) December 9, 2019
That's one more step towards inclusivity 😍😍😍 https://t.co/vDQAnYtkym
— Santhosh Mathevan (@myself_santhosh) December 10, 2019
How fantastic @TataSteelLtd! https://t.co/hIcoT2wl99
— shikha bhasin (@shikha_bhasin) December 9, 2019
Excellent step forward. Kudos on the genuine inclusiveness shown here. #TataSteel#TuesdayMorning#TuesdayMotivationhttps://t.co/TtCNs8t1XH
— Vijaya Moorthy (@vmoorthynow) December 10, 2019
A small step forward in the right direction will go a long way. What do you think about the new policy?