Match between India and Pakistan saw the whole of India coming to a standstill. When I say ‘standstill’ I am talking about ‘the commercial or the working’ part of it as we saw people suddenly getting ‘sick’ in the morning and taking leave on that day, there were some who went to office but never seemed to work and the rest managed to get away in the second half to catch the spectacle on television with their friends and family.
I appreciate the government realizing the importance of these matches and in turn declaring a public holiday. But my question is whether one holiday is enough? I certainly do not think so as the ‘previous’ and the ‘next’ day of any ‘big’ match in India is as important as the match day itself. We are living in a country where everyone has an opinion on Cricket (unlike Mahesh Bhatt who has an opinion on everything under the sun!) And the best part about this is that everyone likes to express it as well. So you can not expect people to come to work on the ‘previous’ day do their work at their productive best and leave and get a holiday to watch a match at home or outside and then turn up the ‘next’ day and be at their productive best! No, it is not possible, at least in India. As the ‘previous’ day is usually spent by all of us discussing as to what the Indian team should do on the match day and the ‘next’ day is spent discussing the right or the wrong decisions depending upon the outcome of the match! The worst part is that you have people on these two days i.e. ‘previous’ as well as the ‘next’ working halfheartedly so you see productivity per person going down. Productivity of people on the ‘previous’ as well as the ‘next’ day, I am sure, can be a topic of some path-breaking and earth-shattering research!
I understand that giving three holidays is not only impractical but nonsensical as well and that I am just writing this post because I have nothing else to do but I feel this is one fact which can not be overlooked. Personally, I am fortunate to be working in a company where arrangements were made to watch the match in the second half. So is there any solution to make sure that the productivity remains in tact? Yes I have a solution. I am sure the companies will be ready to pay me millions to know the solution but I do not mind sharing it for free. The idea is to hire people who hate cricket! How is that for a solution? If the companies do decide to go with this idea, the HR professionals have a tough job on their hands. We could see some ads like
“ABC Ltd. requires people with at least 2 years of work-ex in sales & marketing and he/she should not like watching or discussing cricket”!
I appreciate the government realizing the importance of these matches and in turn declaring a public holiday. But my question is whether one holiday is enough? I certainly do not think so as the ‘previous’ and the ‘next’ day of any ‘big’ match in India is as important as the match day itself. We are living in a country where everyone has an opinion on Cricket (unlike Mahesh Bhatt who has an opinion on everything under the sun!) And the best part about this is that everyone likes to express it as well. So you can not expect people to come to work on the ‘previous’ day do their work at their productive best and leave and get a holiday to watch a match at home or outside and then turn up the ‘next’ day and be at their productive best! No, it is not possible, at least in India. As the ‘previous’ day is usually spent by all of us discussing as to what the Indian team should do on the match day and the ‘next’ day is spent discussing the right or the wrong decisions depending upon the outcome of the match! The worst part is that you have people on these two days i.e. ‘previous’ as well as the ‘next’ working halfheartedly so you see productivity per person going down. Productivity of people on the ‘previous’ as well as the ‘next’ day, I am sure, can be a topic of some path-breaking and earth-shattering research!
I understand that giving three holidays is not only impractical but nonsensical as well and that I am just writing this post because I have nothing else to do but I feel this is one fact which can not be overlooked. Personally, I am fortunate to be working in a company where arrangements were made to watch the match in the second half. So is there any solution to make sure that the productivity remains in tact? Yes I have a solution. I am sure the companies will be ready to pay me millions to know the solution but I do not mind sharing it for free. The idea is to hire people who hate cricket! How is that for a solution? If the companies do decide to go with this idea, the HR professionals have a tough job on their hands. We could see some ads like
“ABC Ltd. requires people with at least 2 years of work-ex in sales & marketing and he/she should not like watching or discussing cricket”!
I would be first person to join that company for sure. :-)
ReplyDelete