It\u2019s a random Monday in the summer of 2015. I\u2019m sitting in class at the Department of English at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata, doodling in a friend\u2019s notebook while the professor reflects on representation of consumerism in Vladmir Nabakov\u2019s Lolita. My friend notices that I\u2019m making a list of random hill stations. She joins me, and by the time the class ends, we have a list of ten places \u2013 Darjeeling, Kurseong, Ooty, Kaluk and so on. We get our other friends to check out the list, and by the end of the day, we\u2019ve planned an entire trip together. In the coming fortnight, we have a chunk of days off for May Day and some other local festival. Coupled with some \u2018self-assigned holidays\u2019 (what we like to call the days we bunk classes on), we can carve out a good amount of time for a satisfying trip to Sikkim.<\/p>\n
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Cut to the summer of 2022. The same friends are now spread out all over \u2013 one is doing her PhD at JNU, another works for an Ed Tech company in Bangalore, and another is climbing the corporate ladder at an MNC. We are trying to find common holidays to take a trip together, but it just. won\u2019t. work. After a week of constant back and forth, we give up and decide to try another time. This is adulthood, we tell ourselves. This is what we signed up for when we decided to pursue full-time careers. We can\u2019t just take off as we did in our university days. The companies we work for get to decide for us.<\/p>\n
Except that they don\u2019t- not for me, at least. Ever since I joined Hachi Bee in February, I have had the freedom to choose 12 regional holidays that are meaningful to me, and I get to celebrate them the way I want. When October comes around, and Durga Pujo week arrives in my hometown with all its pomp and glory, I won\u2019t have to sulk like many of my friends who work for companies based abroad or in other parts of India where they don\u2019t assign more than one holiday for Dushhera\/Dashami.<\/p>\n
I also get to take 18 days of paid time off. When taking this time off, if it’s 7 days or more at a stretch, I have to let the team know at least a month in advance so they can work around my absence. It\u2019s a straightforward approach that works well when there is clear communication (and you know how much we love communicating here at Bee).<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure this all sounds delightful already, but I haven\u2019t even gotten to the best part yet. The best part about Bee\u2019s approach to holidays is that it doesn\u2019t track sick days. \u201cIf you\u2019re unwell and cannot work, just take the day off\u201d. It\u2019s really as simple as that. Funny how this kind of fundamental human kindness seems extraordinary to us \u2013 says a lot about the kind of world we\u2019ve built. If someone at Bee is sick, all they have to do is let the team know that they won\u2019t be in. I\u2019ve seen too many friends suffering through long workdays with period cramps and migraines just so they can \u2018preserve\u2019 their sick days to know just how significant of a departure this is from the norm.<\/p>\n
When you see this approach working, and working well, you can\u2019t help but wonder \u2013 why ISN\u2019T this the norm? Shouldn\u2019t it be? Shouldn\u2019t people be treated like people and not machines? (\u201cI want to extract as much value from you as I can\u201d, said the head of an organization to me once, as I was interviewing for a job I OBVIOUSLY did not take).<\/p>\n
At Bee, each policy puts people at the centre \u2013 whether it\u2019s the way we tell stories, the way we communicate with each other, or the way we approach holidays. It\u2019s the kind of approach that helps people do their best, and makes them want to do even better because they know they\u2019re working for an organization that values them as individuals, and cares about their wellbeing.<\/p>\n
When I tell my friends about Bee, the most common and immediate response is, \u201cDo they have any openings?\u201d. If that isn\u2019t a sign that Bee gets it right, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve read this far, you must have found something you liked. Having a flexible holiday policy isn\u2019t a utopian fantasy, it is being done right here, right now. As always, we recommend that you customize the approach according to your organisation\u2019s needs. Let us know how it\u2019s going!<\/p>\n