Indian steelmaker Tata Steel on Monday announced a new human resource policy that allows its employees from the LGBTQ+ community to add their partners for the benefits permissible under the law. The company clarified that partners would mean “people of same-sex living like a married couple”.

“Under the expanded Diversity & Inclusion policy, Tata Steel employees and their partners will be able to avail a host of benefits including health check-up, medical benefits, joint house points, adoption leave, new-born parent leave, child care leave, and inclusion in employee assistance programme, the company’s statement read. “Employees will also get financial assistance for gender reassignment surgery and 30 days special leave for the same.”

Under the new policy, the employees will be eligible to avail benefits under the company’s executive holiday plan, and bring their partners to any office events where spouses of the opposite gender were previously included. Tata Steel’s “Take-2 initiative” will also allow any partner on a career break eligible to apply.

“Providing equitable policies and benefits creates a level playing field for all employees and sets common standards across locations,” said Suresh Dutt Tripathi, the vice president of Human Resource Management, Tata Steel in the statement. “Research shows that people are more engaged with and committed to an organisation that has policies protecting LGBTQ+ employees. In fact, enacting LGBTQ+ inclusive policies have been shown to decrease the instances of LGBTQ+ discrimination at work.”

The company said that its vision was to be an organisation that respected uniqueness of individuals to establish a diverse and inclusive atmosphere and compete with access to a “larger talent pool”.