I want you to take a holiday!

Many years ago, the punctual and regular staff of the Octroi department of Pune (India) went on strike. Octroi is an import duty imposed on all goods entering a city or town. The city corporation depended heavily on Octroi collections to meet their budgets, so the city appointed new staff to temporarily manage the Octroi posts and collect the tax. (Almost all Octroi was paid in cash.) Surprisingly, for the week the Octroi staff were on strike, the daily revenues jumped up by 300%. This incident brought to light the massive corruption in the department. That staff allowed vehicles to pass through, by accepting lower or no octroi duty for a considerable bribe became apparent. Corruption becomes pervasive in every organisation and society if the organisation and systems are weak or non-existent. Effective management involves the establishment of a robust management system that inhibits corruption whilst facilitating efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Some other examples – These were some problems we faced at the beginning of my leadership career. At that time the relationship between us employers and the employees was adversarial. With the passage of time and maturity, we established credibility and trust between ourselves. Our relationship got transformed from being one of confrontational to a collaborative partnership. Employees considered the organisation as their own and they were active stakeholders and beneficiaries of organisational success. This partnership gave birth to a self-monitoring, self-regulating highly dynamic workforce. In such a work environment it became difficult for laggards, dishonest and non-performers to survive in the organisation. This is of course the best solution, but not everyone is so fortunate. Here are some solutions. If leaders fail to install a good and robust management system, they are more likely to get defrauded and will have only themselves to blame. They might even end up having to go on permanent leave. Note: We have to be aware of an anomaly. Some people never take time off from work for a very different reason. These people lack a meaningful family or social life. Their workplace and colleagues are their world. They prefer to work long hours and take refuge at their workplace. #holiday #indespensable #FamilyLife #SocialLife