Barclays India rolls out support for employees amid COVID-19
Barclays, a British multinational universal bank has announced measures to help protect and support employees and their families in India facing the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis.
The company has announced new measures that offer both financial and on-the-ground support, including facilitating vaccinations, enhanced insurance limits, uncapped paid leave, financial aid, and support channels.
Commenting on the steps taken by the company, Jaideep Khanna, Head of Barclays Asia Pacific said, “We are very grateful for the resilience and dedication shown by our colleagues in the last year. Given the current pandemic situation in India, we hope that these new measures will lessen the burden on our colleagues and provide further assistance towards taking care of themselves and their families”
The measures being introduced are:
- Enhanced insurance: to help protect colleagues from the financial impact of receiving treatment for COVID-19, hospitalization insurance limits have been raised and certain costs not covered by insurance, such as PPE equipment charges, will be covered by Barclays.
- Vaccination: helping facilitate free vaccinations for all colleagues and their families, subject to availability and government guidelines.
- Uncapped paid leave: all employees can take uncapped paid leave to give sufficient time to recuperate from Covid-19, get vaccinated, and for taking care of a family member.
- Junior colleague financial support: junior colleagues will receive one month’s salary in advance to help manage unforeseen expenses.
- Support channels: employees have access to a 24/7 COVID care helpline, online doctor consultations, a peer-to-peer support network, and a 24/7 confidential helpline that provides free counselling services.
“As the COVID-19 emergency in India continues to unfold, we are committed to supporting our 20,000 colleagues based in-country and their families.” Jes Staley, Group CEO said in a statement.
“Our colleagues in India have worked exceptionally hard throughout the pandemic and during this heightened crisis it’s vital we offer them the right support. This package has been carefully put together, with the wellbeing of our colleagues a top priority.” CEO added.
Barclays will continue to monitor the situation for all of its employees globally and is working to ensure they are offered the right support, he further added.
