SBI to offer staff paid bereavement leave of one week

SBI has introduced a special leave for employees who have suffered a bereavement in the family. This will be a one-week paid leave on the loss of a family member.

SBI deputy MD Prashant Kumar said that besides leave, the bank also took a decision to provide 75% subsidy on mediclaim premium for retired employees earning pension up to Rs 20,000. For those earning Rs 20,000-30,000 pension, the subsidy would be 60%. The bank has also expanded scope of mediclaim cover for employees' family to 100% of claimed amount as against 75% earlier.

According to Kumar, the bank had looked at best HR practices of multinationals and decided to adopt the policy on leave. "This leave allows employees to spend time with their families in their hour of crisis and grief," the bank said.

Family has been described as spouse, children, parents or parents-in-law irrespective of whether they are dependent or not. The leave can be availed of within a fortnight of the demise of the family member. It will be available to all categories of permanent employees/officers/permanent part-time medical officers and employees on contract basis.

TOI had earlier reported how companies were beginning to offer bereavement leave following the example set by Facebook. The social media giant introduced a 20-day bereavement leave after chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg lost her husband in 2015 and realised how much the post-bereavement leave had helped her cope with her grief. This is the first time that a public sector bank is offering bereavement leave. Corporates such as TCS, Infosys and Cipla have been offering such leave for several years.

State Bank of India