If you are someone who works a corporate job then maybe what I’m about to say is going to hit you hard – asking for leaves, especially last-minute ones, is a bit of a task. In most corporate offices, you cannot just say you won’t be coming on a Monday morning because you had too much to drink on Sunday night and were suffering from a killer hangover. You cannot just say that relatives have come over and you need to help your parents in the kitchen. You cannot just say that you were having a bad mental health day and needed some time off. The flip side of adult life is that you have to show up even if your world is on fire.
However, there are always exceptions, right? God has his list of favourite children and to them, he has bestowed working for a company that is run by super supportive and chill people who won’t make you feel guilty about taking the day off, for whatever reason. Here’s an example.
Ankit Aggarwal, the founder and CEO of Unstop, took to LinkedIn to share a screenshot of a conversation with one of his employees. The employee wanted a “late night party leave” – they went to a concert which continued till late into the night, making it difficult for the employee to show up for work the next day.
“After a long time I want to request you for a late night party leave. I went to a concert and the party is still on,” the employee wrote.
To this, the CEO replied, “Cool. I hope you had a great concert. Take us as well sometime.”
How cool is that?
“This landed in my WhatsApp today morning. Employee asking for a leave because the party and its after party is still on. This openness is critical within a team so that you can trust your team and they are ensured that you will back them. When colleagues feel comfortable being open and honest with each other, it builds a foundation of trust that can lead to better communication, collaboration, and overall success,” Ankit wrote on LinkedIn.
Have a look:
Several people online lauded the kind of friendly and supportive environment Ankit’s company has fostered for its employees. When you share such openness with your team unflinchingly, it contributes to creating a very healthy workspace. Here’s how people responded to the post:
If you think about it, we tend to celebrate these instances whenever they come to light but in reality, this is what should be normal but isn’t. People at the office tend to put so much pressure on their employees that they aren’t able to freely communicate their needs and at the end of it all, it is the work that suffers.