Whoa!! 16 Long Weekends In 2018 – Is Anyone Working?

December 6, 2017

The prospect of 16 long weekends in 2018 has stirred up quite a hornet’s nest…

While some of us merrily pre-plan and pre-book vacations; others find themselves warily unsure of this exciting announcement. We talk to Puneites who share their mixed bag of feeling on whether 2018 will be a productive work year, despite these breaks.

Meher Vatsal is not too happy with the news. “As a business owner, the last thing you want to see, is a calendar ripe with extended holidays.

It is hard to deny employees leave when their bright and hopeful eyes meet yours 16 times a year. Moreover, with some of them announced as legitimate public holidays, matters are further complicated.

Nonetheless, the entrepreneur who successfully runs a digital marketing firm seems to have found a solution. “I’ve announced a list of restricted holidays for the staff. They can choose a few of them for their annual leaves and sync it with the HR. This way we have some control over the number of employees present at work on any given holiday,” she grimaces.

“August is the real whopper,” says Mustaffa Ajani a software engineer with Toshiba. “Its time to ring in our independence with fireworks in the mountains at an eerie high.

There are only two working days between 15 and 26 August. This mandates a 12 day binge-drinking fest. In fact some of my friends are planning for something a tad stronger with a trip to Kasol.

“Airlines are raining offers beginning February till May and I have my holidays booked,” trills Panchi Jaiswal an architecture intern in the city. “With Basant Panchami and Republic Day falling on consecutive weekends; I’ve planned to take a 10 day vacay home to Delhi. Everything is now a possibility thanks to these extended weekends!”

Pramukh Bhagwat runs a gifting enterprise and admits that holidays are their busiest time.

There is the issue of more than 3 employees taking off on leave, all at once. This seriously hampers the functionality of the concern. I am already dealing with applications from 7 employees who wish to go to their hometown Nagpur, Satara, Parbhani, etc next year.

“With them applying several months in advance, there are no grounds to deny them! I shall have to announce a special bonus or double-pay benefit to those who agree to come to work on the holidays,” he muses.

#Views expressed in this column are those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.