It's leisure before work

How often have you postponed taking a break or a holiday in light of a truckload of work? If you’re working in India, chances are quite often. A 2016 ‘Vacation Deprivation Study’ by Expedia ranks India as the 4th most vacation-deprived country globally, with 71% professionals having cancelled or postponed vacations due to work.

And now new research from Harvard claims adopting a ‘Leisure First, Work Second’ policy enhances workplace productivity, as compared to a ‘Work First, Leisure Second’ strategy. The study reveals employees often over-worry and over-work for future rewards which could be as pleasurable in the present. In short, when employees put leisure last, they feel burned out as the leisure time might never really come. This burnout curtails work productivity and results in chronic ailments, further impacting efficiencies.

It’s, therefore, wiser to balance out leisure and work by not postponing one for the other, say HR experts.

Says Chetna Gogia, director – HR, PayU India, “Work-life balance remains elusive with many employees spending hours at the office, often at the expense of their personal lives. As businesses go global, ‘leisure first, work later’ is a call to workplaces to adopt employee-friendly regulations that cut lengthy work hours and promote a healthy balance between work and life.”

According to Zubin Zack, director and chief recognition strategist at O C Tanner, a global employee rewards and recognition company, the only way to keep your best foot at work is to ‘give yourself a break’. “A little rest makes you sharper when you get back to work. A ‘leisure first, work second’ strategy can be part of organisational objectives. It’s important to understand that the goal of a company is what leaders should try to achieve through such strategies.”

Experts feel returning to work post a break provides a unique perspective to employees regarding challenges at work and different problem-solving outlooks.

So how are organisations upping the leisure quotient amongst employees? According to HR professional Lakshmi Dasaka, ‘leisure’ can mean different to different people. “For some, a quick walk or a jog, or an afternoon nap could be a leisure activity.” While for others, it could mean taking a day off work to relax with family or indulging in a week-long holiday in an exotic island.

Experts feel since work and leisure are mutually inclusive, providing the right atmosphere adds value to an employee’s efforts. “You can see this happening in a big way in the coworking spaces that allow for interactions with like-minded people and share activities like yoga and movie nights. This holistic approach results in higher levels of employee ownership and motivation, apart from enhanced productivity,” says entrepreneur Mitali Tandon, co-founder of Morning Fresh.

Organisations are gradually taking measures such as installing photo booths, organising sports tournaments, costume parties, pub crawls, cocktail events – to give employees some relaxation time during or post a working day.

“We encourage employees to take a break from their routine work, spend time with colleagues and eventually create special bonds that make working together much more fun,” says Gogia, adding that a focus on efficiency versus time spent at work keeps employee morale high and helps deliver better quality work.

...& ANALYSIS

• Returning to work post a break provides a unique perspective to employees regarding challenges at work
   
• Work and leisure being mutually inclusive, they provide value to an employee’s efforts