60 percent to miss office for India-Pakistan match: Survey

In the survey carried out in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune and Bangalore on 500 corporate employees in 50 offices, most have admitted that they won't be able to concentrate on work properly owing to much hyped India-Pakistan clash.

"After nearly three years, India is clashing with Pakistan that too in World Cup semifinals.... I'm eagerly waiting... it will be a high-voltage game, so I will never miss this and I have already got my leave sanctioned," said Rajan S. Mathews, a bank employee working in south Delhi.

Around 60 percent of employees from 50 corporate offices have given casual leave applications for Wednesday, the survey states.

"We have had many employees applying for sick leave. We received over 10 applications from each department. Being a year-ender and the work load is more, so we are giving a leave on Wednesday and asking them to work on Sunday," Mangal Ram, human resources head for Intech tehcnologies, an MNC, told IANS.

According to the survey, around 15 percent of corporates from Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune and Bangalore have declared a holiday as employees are applying for casual leave on one pretext or the other.

Some corporate houses are offering a half-day leave.
"Right from office boy to team leaders, everyone has applied for leave. So, we thought better to give half-day leave and be little lenient with the timings. And those who take leave tomorrow (Wednesday) should work full day Saturday," Anitha Siddiqui, head of the HR team in a private company, said.

Releasing the findings of Assocham survey Tuesday, D.S. Rawat said, "Indo-Pak matches are more than just cricket. They are closely followed by both cricket followers and non-followers with equal enthusiasm in both the nations. Considering the hysteria of World Cup semifinals, it is a matter of interest to everyone."

Many top officials in various corporates offices are a worried lot as they have to balance work and staff crunch. So, they are putting up big projector screens for employees to watch the match in the office.

"Thank god, the world cup is once in four years, with attendance being lean tomorrow and due to closing of the financial year we cannot afford to give leave for the match. So, office administration is putting up giant screens in office conference halls and are going to provide free refreshments to the employees," said Anand Srinivasan, assistant accounts manager, in an MNC company in Bangalore.

The survey has showed that 30 percent of employees said they have coerced their bosses to allow them to leave early, if team India puts up a good show. Meanwhile, 20 percent employees said they are displeased as their companies have rejected their plea for declaring a half-day leave due to closing of the financial year.

As per the survey, Mumbai has received maximum number of casual leave applications, followed by Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Pune.