Companies Allow Employees To Gift Leaves To Colleagues

Employees, in some companies, left with leaves now have a chance to gift it to their colleagues who need them. They get incentives in return.

A recent Deloitte survey found that such a policy is adopted to promote a culture of camaraderie and collaboration. It can be helpful to a new employee who has a low leave balance. The Deloitte India Benefits Study, conducted in 2023, surveyed above 200 firms across sectors such as pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, services, technology, financial services and consumer.

'Gift-a-leave policy' is a differentiated practice being adopted by progressive companies, Deloitte India director told ET. A local unit of BT Group, a UK-based telecoms company introduced such a policy in August 2023 as part of its HR policy refresher project for India. The company has also started a 'Flexi Bank Holiday' option this year for all employees in India. This option allows them to select their public holidays from a state-gazetted list (excluding mandatory holidays) and also choose one personal day, Jay Muthu, HR director, BT Group India told the media organisation.

Another company, Marico has a 'Leave Sharing' policy through which employees support each other in meeting personal and professional commitments.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Persistent Systems implemented a 'Donate/Gift Your Leave' policy. Expanding the scope of the policy, the company extends support to underprivileged segments of society by enabling employees to donate leave (its cash equivalent through the leave encashment route) to their corporate social responsibility fund.