‘Rs 1,00,000 for a Call’: Indian Tech Startup fines staff who disturb colleagues on vacation

‘Rs 1,00,000 for a Call’: Indian Tech Startup fines staff who disturb colleagues on vacation

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

January 12, 2023: Holidays are a part of luxury. Be it spending time with your loved ones or going for a long trip, the context of luxury differs from person to person. But getting disturbed by a colleague only when you wish to stay disconnected just ruins the essence of that ‘luxury’. So, an Indian tech startup decided to fix the problem by imposing a fine on staff who try to contact a colleague during their time off. The company has found a way to ensure that their employees remain disconnected from work life and “unplug" from the system for a week every year.

 

Dream Sports, a Mumbai-based company that runs the Dream 11 fantasy sports platform, said in an interview with CNBC that it requires its employees to take a week off every year. In case, a colleague tries to contact them during the vacation, they’ll be fined Rs. 1,00,000 (about $1200), stated Harsh Jain, co-founder, and CEO of the company valued at $8 billion in 2021. “Once a year, for one week, you’re kicked out of the system," Jain told CNBC. “You don’t have Slack, emails, and calls." He further explained that this would help the vacationing employee to have a week of an uninterrupted break while the business would also get to know whether they’re dependent on anyone. So far, the policy has been followed by Dream Sports and has proved to be effective over time.

“No one wants to be that jerk who called someone who was on unplug," remarked Bhavit Sheth, the co-founder and COO of the company started in 2008. “Dream11 believes that this uninterrupted time allows Dreamsters (employees of Dream11) to relax, recharge and come back to work ready to give their best," the company said in a statement. Thus, the policy echoes other companies to respect an employee’s vacation time and let him/her be at ease when they need it the most.