News: Razorpay introduces ‘Meeting Free Days’ to address burnout

Life @ Work

Razorpay introduces ‘Meeting Free Days’ to address burnout

To ease the stress at work and address burnout, some companies are introducing policies like ‘Meeting Free Days’ and no calls after 7 PM. Razorpay also follows the league.
Razorpay introduces ‘Meeting Free Days’ to address burnout

Businesses have been looking for opportunities to thrive amidst this problem; they are doing their best to ensure employees are safe, engaged, happy and productive while maintaining a work-life balance in this new digital workplace. But many recent surveys have shown that as the pandemic stretches on, workers are becoming more burnt out. 

At Razorpay, as part of some of its remote working initiatives, it has announced that the second Wednesday of every month will now be a ‘No Meeting Day’. This step is specifically meant to address the too many internal meetings that its employees end up being a part of because of the limited facetime with each other. 

"The employees are working on large projects that require uninterrupted focus; these meeting free days allow for the continuous time that they require,” said Anuradha Bharat, Head - People Operations, Razorpay. 

She added, “We are also constantly encouraging our employees to avail their annual leaves (excluding the Covid-19 related leave) that they are eligible for without any hesitation, irrespective of the remote working scenario; taking some time off from work can help overcome the burnout and let you recharge.”

Razorpay is mandating their employees to schedule all meetings between 10am and 7pm during the weekdays and not before or later, to ensure they limit their regular working hours. Some of their optional holidays are also being converted to mandatory; the company is also giving away a few random and unexpected holidays - these breaks are a way of getting to spend more time with families while also adding some rejuvenation into people’s everyday lives.

Razorpay is not the only one many other companies have stepped up and introduced new leaves, and policies like flexi hours, and no meetings after 7PM to enable their employees to balanace their work and life and reduce burnout. 


‘Meeting Free Days’: An old concept in limelight once again

Just like gig workforce, remote working, digital transformation, ‘Meeting Free Days’ is also something that was being discussed and even being practiced by many organizations even before the pandemic. As employee wellnesss and issues like burnout and stress had been a key focus area for companies, for a while now, ‘Meeting Free Days’ had always been there. However, amid the pandemic, the need for it has been more than ever. 

In 2017, a blog in Forbes read, "The 'No Meeting Day' has recently become a phenomenon of sorts. The idea is to give employees an entire work day that their company, department or team has designated 100 percent meeting-free. Companies in the technology, healthcare and business sectors have been eager to implement this practice to create space for employees to engage in focused work for a full day. An organization that adopts this approach views meetings as a disruption to daily productivity.

Like other trends, is ‘Meeting Free Days' also here to stay?

 

Image source: Wall Street Journal

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Topics: Life @ Work, #COVID-19

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