The Engagement Tamasha

Last Saturday, when I tuned into one of the FM radio channels, the RJ was talking to a lady listener over phone. The lady informed the RJ that her company had arranged some team-building camp and she was participating in the same. The RJ quipped immediately –"why do these team-building camps are organized on Saturdays, why not on a weekday! Better give Saturday as an off-day. Who likes to be in a team-building camp on Saturday”. The lady listener just managed to chuckle a bit (what more can you expect when she is on-air!). But the sound of her expression told very clearly that she agreed with the RJ’s every word, every bit of it. A lazy Saturday would have engaged her and her team members more than the ‘team-building’ camp.

A global survey by The Workforce Institute at Kronos has revealed that many employees call in sick from work just to watch television or stay in bed when they are not suffering from any illness, with those in India and China leading the charts. China led all other surveyed regions with 71% of employees admitting to pretending to be sick, followed by India with 62%, Australia (58%), Canada (52%), the US (52%), Great Britain (43%) and Mexico (38%). Such unscheduled leaves affect the co-workers and organization negatively.

Of the surveyed, 44% employees in India said they called in sick because they felt stressed or needed a day off. In India and Mexico staying home and watching TV was the top choice followed by meeting up with friends and relatives. When asked what their employers could do to prevent this practice, most employees around the world felt that the opportunity to work from home and to take unpaid leave could help reduce this practice.

Moral of the story is very clear, employees all over the world highly value  some time-off from work more than anything occasionally. Repeated research studies like American Wellness survey, Audrey Tsui’s Asia Wellness Survey, MDRA & Outlook Indian study etc. have shown that the cost of prosperity has come in the form of long hours of work, extended commute hours, heightened levels of work stress and poor work-life balance. In times like these, a day-off could be far more engaging then all other weekend tamasha. Instead of a Fun-Friday afternoons, give that noon off, at least sometimes. And, encroaching weekends is the last thing companies can do…

Engagement like marketing is all about understanding the real needs of the target group and also it most productive that way. Anyone listening….??????