Sick of sick leave? Take a duvet day!

HONG KONG: Ever have one of those days when you wake up — and don’t want to drag yourself to work? When you just want to watch the monsoon clouds hulk over the Mumbai skyline? When you want to call your boss and tell him you want to “just chill” at home?

It’s the surest way to be branded a truant or, worse, lose your job, you might think. Not really: HR practitioners the world over are acknowledging that allowing their employees to “play hookie” may be the best way to improve productivity in the workplace!

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Global PR firm Text 100 was one of the earliest to introduce the ‘duvet day’, a programme that allows employees to take a day off without forcing them to pretend they are sick. Of course, rules stipulate that the employee must have no external meetings or major deadlines — and be on call throughout the day in case there are queries from clients or with a project. Says Text 100 managing consultant Jeremy Woolf: “Duvet days are a representation of our commitment to our employees. Given the people-centric, high-pressured nature of our business, they are a small but important piece of what keeps ‘Texties’ healthy, rested and engaged in the company.”

The ‘duvet day’ is one of many novel HR practices showcased in Work-Life Balance in Hong Kong: Case Studies 2007.