Dream11: This Indian company will force employees to pay a huge fine if they disturb their colleagues on vacation

New Delhi
CNN
–

Do you receive urgent work emails from colleagues even while on vacation? This is common for many white-collar workers, especially in India Where employees feel overworked and paid less compared to their peers around the world, according to several studies over the years.

But a Mumbai-based company has come up with a new way to solve this problem.

Dream11, a fictional gaming platform, will fine its employees 100,000 rupees ($1,200) if they contact their colleagues with “work-related calls or messages” while on vacation.

This is part of the company’s efforts to ensure its employees can “downtime and enjoy a healthy work-life balance,” according to a statement Dream11 shared with CNN.

Under the policy, called Unplug, employees sign off from all office work for seven days a year.

The statement added: “Individuals who choose to leave offline are being signed out of … emails, Slack groups and WhatsApp.”

The spokesperson was not involved when the policy was first introduced. According to an interview with CNBCThe company’s founders said the policy has been effective so far.

Founded in 2008, Dream11 has more than 1,000 employees, is valued at nearly $8 billion and includes Tiger Global and Tencent among its investors, according to data platform Tracxn.

Not taking a break can be dangerous to health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Working long hours Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from stroke and heart disease.

In a global analysis of the relationship between life loss, health and working long hours, the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization estimated that in 2016, around 745,000 people died as a result of working at least 55 hours a week.