Unhappy Leaves: The Global Mental Health Conversation And Why Employers Must Act Before It’s Too Late!

Work-life balance remains a hotly debated topic across various industries around the world, with its importance having grown exponentially in the last decade or more. The last month death of EY employee in India and a food delivery worker in China denotes that the topic of mental health deterioration is not limited by boundaries, it is a global phenomena.

In such cases, a business owner in China has stated that his staff would be able to take up to 10 additional leaves at their discretion in order to promote a better work-life balance in the workplace and counter the country’s usual practice of extended work hours. An employee have to give no comprehensive explanations about why they are taking leave and no permission from the manager required. The policy is intended to remove the stigma associated with taking a mental health day from work and to assist employees in dealing with the demands of their jobs. Finally, the purpose is to increase employees’ mental health and well-being, which affects workplace morale, job engagement, and productivity.

Why the mental health is a hot topic?

In the last several years, it seems like there have been a lot of things for workers to keep quiet about. It has become difficult for employees to know what to speak aloud and what to keep to themselves due to the “hush and quiet tendencies,” which are a sign of a differences between corporate culture and employee demands. The days of quiet quits, hushed hybrid policies, mental health days, and productive theatre may soon become relics from the past as “unhappy leave” policies gain traction in the workplace.

Is the ‘Unhappy Leave’ Trend just a Band-Aid for temporaray relief?

According to Hogan Assessments, the ‘unhappy leaves’ trend emphasises that those changes are indicators of a gap between corporate culture and employee requirements, disclosing deeper organisational difficulties that highlight the growing issue of employee unhappiness, which many organisations have failed to address.

Unhappy leave might foster a culture of avoidance rather than active involvement with mental health issues. When employees are permitted to leave their jobs without addressing the primary reasons of their pain, the underlying issues go unaddressed. This approach risks normalising the assumption that the only way to deal with mental health issues is to take time off, rather than fostering open talks and support networks in the workplace. A healthier alternative would be to promote a culture that prioritizes mental wellness through regular check-ins, access to mental health resources, and developing an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing their problems.

Additionally, unhappy leaves can disrupt team dynamics and productivity. Employees who take long unhappy leave can create a great load on their respective colleagues, resulting in heightened stress and worse motivation among the remaining team folks. This vicious loop can pave the way for a poisonous workplace climate in which those who stay feel overwhelmed and unsupported. Instead than using unhappy leaves as a short-term gain, organisations should focus on building resilient teams via cooperation and support, ensuring that burden distribution is doable even when one team member is struggling.

Finally, unhappy leave rules may result in uneven application and misunderstanding among employees. Not all employees will feel comfortable using this leave, fearing it might be viewed as an excuse rather than a legitimate need. Inconsistent usage can lead to resentment among employees who may feel pressured to come to work despite their own struggles, creating a divide within the workplace.

Not every employer thinks that ‘work life balance’ is needed. How Indian governance and corporates view work life balance?

The recent words of Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the death of EY employee mentioning that employees need to learn how to tackle stress had sparked rows about how the Indian administration is looking at the mental health of the employees. No doubt stress management lessons can prove to be an essential tool for career success, however it does not dissolve the fact that companies in the country are going head over heels to complete the targets at the cost of employee’s mental and physical health.

Another recent example stems to the views of Ola Founder Bhavish Agarwal, where the founder discarded the concept of work life balance. In an earlier interview with the news portal YourStory, the Ola CEO described work-life balance as “not the right construct” and acknowledged that people may not agree with his contrarian view. No doubt everyone is aware of toxic work culture of Ola!

Another comment comes from the most notable Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of tech giant Infosys. A year ago, while speaking to former Infosys CEO Mohandas Pai, Murthy suggested that Indian youth should work for 70 hours a week to boost the country’s economy. Netizens were quick to comment on how the tech giant is squeezing every drop of employee without a decent increase in certain salary levels over a decade.

Before Murthy, Shantanu Deshpande, the founder and chief executive officer of Bombay Shaving Company, had landed in trouble for suggesting that young professionals should devote 18 hours a day to their jobs. The post of Deshpande in LinkedIn garnered enormous reactions from different domains of industry personnel, criticizing how these capitalistic founders do not want employees, and they just demand slaves!

Fintech founder Cred Kunal Shah also advocated against work-life balance, and claimed that pursuing a work-life balance will not lead to significant achievements in India.

However, not all are on the same plain. There are some who advocates the need of work life balance. Let’s see who they are.

Rohit Kapoor, CEO of Swiggy Food & Marketplace, has spurred crucial conversations about the negative impacts of hustle culture, notably its impact on employee health and well-being. At an event in Bengaluru, he asked the why there is a glorification of long working hours and late-night office tortures, showing that they can crucially damage personal relationships and mental health.

While the Swiggy chief acknowledged that extra hours may be necessary on certain occasion, he pushed that they should not become the normal rule or a matter of pride. He emphasised the need of prioritising ties with family, friends, and loved ones, as well as promoting a healthier approach to work-life balance. This reminds me of an old advertisement where an employee, who honestly completes work at 5 PM and log outs to leave the office is being questioned by an another employee about his quick signing day off!!

Sridhar Vembu, another founder of the bootstrapped business Zoho, has expressed concerns about working stress within Indian corporates. In an interview, Vembu emphasized that companies pushing employees too hard will not be able to sustain in the long run. He advocated for a balanced work environment to build long-term, sustainable organizations.

The clash of long working hours and productivity.

Ever since Mr Murthy commented about the 70-hour work week, many influential figures have backed him, saying that one cannot just log out at 5 PM and say, ‘Oh, my work for today is over!’ One such figure is Sanjeev Bikhchandani, chairman of Naukri.com, who advocated that one have to do if they want to succeed. This kind of statement draws various lines on how startup founders perceive their growth and what growth means for employees. 

In most of the cases, these influential figures are either in their 50s, have achieved and succeeded in family responsibilities, and are completely devoted to their jobs; or the other cohort is the startup founders who have a passion for their idea and the business and are ready to wear multiple hats at one time to achieve the success of their business. On the other hand, the employees are either in their late 20s and 30s, where they have responsibilities for their family lives as well and are not comfortable giving their 100 % to the jobs, or are just doing a job to earn a living, without bothering about where the company will go in future. 

In such cases, just lengthening the working hours will not boost the productivity of the employee and, in turn, will no way work for the progress of the company or the nation. Hence, instead of just forcing the employees to work in the name of success, the employers need to be conscious of what the employees need, and in such a case, these small gaps may help to catalyze the satisfaction of the employees to come back and work with new refreshments. 

Recently, E-commerce marketplace Meesho has given its employees a full 9 days leave. The company has made this announcement after being happy with the bumper sales during the festive season. During this break, all the employees of the company have to follow the policy of no laptop, meeting, email, message. This gesture by the e-commerce site, for the fourth time in a row, has left people of the company and the netizens happy.