The perception of working from home before Covid-19 meant more of Netflix and less work. However this perception has truly changed since the past few months! All of us have been working from home non-stop! All the commuting time, lunch, dinner, numerous tea/coffee breaks have all vanished and all we have are the numerous Zoom calls. Work-Life balance has gone for a toss!
Agencies in the advertising industry have realized that after working so hard in the lockdown, everyone deserves a break! Hence multiple agencies have given two-three days off as a way to appreciate all the hard work and countless number of hours agency professionals have spent working remotely. The lines between the weekend and weekdays have completely blurred.
Medianews4u spoke to a few agency bosses who have been gracious enough to give their hardworking teams a break.
PS: Our agency friends please feel free to share this story with your bosses! And let us know if you get a break! because #BreakTohBantaHai!
Wavemaker India on Monday, 24th August, 2020 is starting an initiative called Wavemaker Sunday – where they simply take a break. Soclients, please make note! Our friends are going to rest it out!
Elaborating on Wavemaker Sunday, Ajay Gupte, CEO-South Asia, Wavemaker told Medianews4u, “Over the last six months, our teams have stretched themselves to deliver on their assignments. Working from home has its share of challenges and we are aware of the toll it has taken on our people. The lines between work and personal life have blurred and this has been very strenuous. Our employees are our greatest strength and our strongest asset. As an organization, we realize the need to give them a well-deserved short break. Hence, we came up with the initiative we gleefully call ‘Wavemaker Sunday’. We celebrate our first ‘Wavemaker Sunday’ on Monday, August 24, 2020, where we have announced an agency-wide no work day with the sole objective of giving our people a very well deserved break
Zoo Media which owns 7 home grown agency brands including FoxyMoron the digital agency gave a nice long break of 6 days!
Suveer Bajaj, Co-Founder of Zoo Media & FoxyMoron told Medianews4u, “It’s been challenging to find a balance in the ‘new normal’ for everyone. On one hand, the uncertainty of when the economy is going to pick up brings with it the pressures of pushing harder to maintain a sustainable business. On the other hand, the added pressure of running the house and managing the family on a full-time basis has left very little time for self.”
Adding, Bajaj said, “At Zoo Media, we value immensely the concept of work-life balance and noticed that it had become hard to find given the circumstances. Hence, we mandated a wellness break for our teams across markets to ensure that each one had sufficient time to spend on self, rejuvenate, and return to work with a renewed sense of vigour and passion.”
Our friends at Ethinos Digital Marketing have initiated Wellness Wednesdays where every employee of the agency gets a holiday on one Wednesday per month. Talking about this initiative, Brijesh Munyal, Joint Managing Director, Ethinos Digital Marketing told Medianews4u, “Work from home during the lockdown has unfortunately blurred the lines between ‘work’ and ‘home’, completely disrupting the balance and boundaries. We hear of people working 10-12 hours on a working day, sometimes working even on public holidays and weekends. Timings have changed as lunch breaks are being pushed, and in many occasions email exchanges are happening late at night. It is an understood fact that all businesses are going through turbulent times currently, and we are doing our best to find middle ground in helping clients meet their deadlines while ensuring the needed quality time required for our team members.”
Acknowledging the hard work of the employees Munyal added, “We are extremely grateful that our employees have wholeheartedly and immensely supported us especially over the last few months to navigate through this new normal. They have juggled their personal and professional lives in the midst of a global pandemic to overcome this unique situation, which is no mean feat! In appreciation of this, we at Ethinos have started an initiative called ‘Wellness Wednesday’, wherein every employee gets a holiday on one Wednesday per month. On this Wednesday, we urge them to treat the day like a holiday and disconnect completely from work, to indulge in personal time and passions instead, in the hope of creating a healthier work-life balance.”
The lucky teams at Aidem and Zirca Digital got a couple of days off last week. Ashok Kumar, Chairman at Zirca Digital Solutions and Aidem told Medianews4u, “At Aidem and Zirca, we have always believed that a work-life balance is essential to the overall wellbeing of our teams. We had instituted a “Family First” policy based on this belief and created various programmes to ensure that our colleagues have ample opportunities to spend quality time with their families.
Adding, Kumar said,“During this pandemic, we were fortunate enough to be able to continue working from home, but this brought along its own set of complications. While proximity from family members is no longer an issue, a lot of people end up working longer hours in a WFH scenario. This actually means there is even less time to spend with family members. Add to this the emotional strain of staying indoors for days at a time, and you begin to see the mental toll that working from home has begun taking on us.”
Elaborating on Wellness days, Kumar said, “To ensure the emotional wellbeing of our teams, we have put in place certain measures like Wellness Days Off, where members of our organisation are given long weekends off with no disturbance from office. We also ensure weekly activities like Team Happy Hours and Game Days, where team members can interact with each other in a non-work setting. Moving forward, we are also tying up with organisations to facilitate an environment of emotional and mental upliftment within the organisation.”
