Indian marketers and agencies change same-sex, live-in partner benefits in push for inclusion

Mondelez India has announced a policy makeover by extending its group mediclaim policy to cover live-in partners. From January 2021 onwards, this policy will also cover the adoptive and dependent children of the domestic partners.

 

The HR policy changes follows the company's extension of group mediclaim benefits to same-sex partners earlier this year.

 

Deepak Iyer, India president of Mondelēz International, said, “At Mondelez India we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, that enables all colleagues to be themselves and achieve their full potential. We are constantly reflecting on the changing needs of our evolving workforce to further liberate and empower them, and the extension of our group mediclaim policy to cover live-in partners is a testimony to those efforts. We believe our long-standing commitment to our colleagues, culture and community will help deliver stronger business performance while enabling us to live our purpose, as we lead the future of snacking.”

 

Mahalakshmi R, director – human resources, Mondelez India, added, “At Mondelez India, diversity and inclusion has always been at the heart of our policy evolution and today, we are very proud to take yet another progressive step and roll-out the extension of our group mediclaim policy for live-in partners in addition to adoptive and dependent children of the domestic partners. This comes after we announced a similar policy re-modeling for same-sex partners earlier this year. This further encourages colleagues to bring their true colours to work and respects everyone’s diverse perspectives #MAKEITUniquelyYours.”  

 

Agency picture

 

Indian advertising agencies are also pressing for a need for change in its HR policies as diversity and inclusion continues to be a talkpoint in the fraternity.

 

Earlier this month, DDB Mudra had announced a change in its HR policy. The change saw inclusion of same-sex spousal medical insurance. The policy change also included medical insurance provided for an employee's live-in partners.

 

The agency was said to be the first to enter this within the agency space in India, but Dentsu Aegis Network claims that the network has had this in place since July 2019. According to a statement, the policy is applicable to same sex partners and same-sex parents of employees of the network.

 

While Dentsu and DDB have this in place, other agencies are looking to follow their path.

 

The MullenLowe Lintas Group stated that they are working on aspects of inclusivity policies and are currently in discussion about the same-sex spouse insurance policy. This however, hasn’t been implemented yet but the agency hopes to do the same soon.

 

Havas Group India also currently doesn't have this in place. The group is in the process of putting out a policy renewal and will be exploring adding this to their insurance policy.

 

WPP also does not yet have such a policy in place right now, but is currently considering it according to a statement from its HR team.