Birthdays are the time for celebration for most, but not even cared about often in the corporate world. Employees usually feel uncomfortable and even perhaps guilty about asking for leave because of what it would do to the leave balance they have, making it hard to make noise about. Companies such as Alphanumero do great things to change this. Its founder, Abhijit Chakraborty recently introduced the “Birthday Plus One” policy, a leave initiative that’s winning kudos galore. This policy provides an extra holiday each year for the employees; one on their birthday and one on that of a loved one, cost-free for leave balances.
We have recently started having a ‘Birthday Plus One’ leave day-off policy. Every member has a holiday day-off on two more days in the year. 1. Their own birthday 2. Any one of their near and dear ones’ birthdays. Both days are treated as Holidays. Their leave balance doesn’t get affected, ” Chakraborty posted on LinkedIn.
He also remembers when, at an earlier stage of his career, his then supervisor raised an eyebrow “when asking to take a birthday off”.
If it’s someone’s birthday, they deserve a gift. Not a leave deduction and weird reactions. And the Plus One leave is equally important. It gives the team members scope to plan and make merry for some other person’s birthday, too. And once we grow more as an organisation, we’d probably make it a Birthday Plus Two, added the super-skilled and super-efficient team member: The more the merrier.
Chakraborty’s post did not take long to go viral. A few users appreciated the thoughtful step that she had taken. One commented, “I love, love, love taking my birthday off to celebrate myself! I’ve taught my husband to do the same as well, so I take off work to celebrate his day too! Now with my son recently born, I intend to take time off for his birthday as well! Nothing wrong with taking the day off to celebrate another trip around the sun for yourself and loved ones.
“A user had this to say, “I have seen birthday leaves, but a birthday leave for your dear one’s birthday, that’s new and welcoming.” Others joined in and referred to the policy as “thoughtful” and “very creative,” with wishes that more companies would adopt it. One summed it up by saying: “Now this is a policy that truly celebrates people! A day for you and a day for someone you love – what better way to show that work-life balance matters? Good initiative.”.