India’s Dream Sports asks its employees to take a week off and “unplug” every year. Any employee who contacts staff while on vacation is subject to a $1,200 fine. Like other companies offering vacations, Dream Sports wants staff to be away from work, even when there is a labor shortage. Something is loading.
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An Indian tech startup has found a way to ensure that employees are truly disconnected from their work devices on their days off – it is imposing a $1,200 fine on staff who contact colleagues on vacation.
Dream Sports, a Mumbai-based tech company that runs fantasy sports platform Dream11, told CNBC in an interview published Dec. 26 that it was forcing its employees to take a week off and “unplug” from the system. the company every year.
And if anyone contacts the staff in their spare time, they will be fined around $1,200, said Harsh Jain, co-founder and CEO of Dream Sports. The company was valued at $8 billion at the end of 2021.
“Once a year, for a week, you get kicked out of the system,” Jain told CNBC. “You don’t have Slack or email or calls.”
It helps the vacationing employee have an uninterrupted week off, and it also “helps the company know if we’re dependent on someone,” he said.
Dream Sports employees abide by the policy so far. “Nobody wants to be that jerk who called someone who was unplugged,” COO and co-founder Bhavit Sheth told CNBC.
The start-up’s policy echoes similar policies of large companies to encourage staff to take time off work in a tight labor market.
In May last year, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers announced it would close its offices in the United States and Mexico for two weeks a year, to allow staff to recharge. In the same month, Goldman Sachs implemented a program allowing senior bankers to take unlimited vacation days.
Dream Sports did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.