Mobile Premier League launches 'Zen Leave' to promote mindful vacation time for employees

Under this programme, employees are encouraged to take an uninterrupted break by temporarily having their access to work applications such as Google Suite and Slack removed.

India-based e-sports and digital gaming platform, Mobile Premier League (MPL), has announced the introduction of 'Zen Leave', a paid leave programme designed to help employees fully disconnect during their vacations.

The programme encourages employees take an uninterrupted break by temporarily having their access removed to work-related applications, including Google Suite, Slack and other IT tools. This, a statement by the company said, will help employees to focus on personal priorities and spend quality time with loved ones without the intrusion of work-related responsibilities.

Namratha Swamy, Chief Operating Officer at MPL, stated: "We have all experienced it. Even on vacation, it's hard to resist checking work emails and notifications. We believe in encouraging our employees to truly switch off when off the clock."

Another characteristic of the programme is that employees can choose how to utilise their Zen Leave, whether by taking multiple shorter breaks throughout the year or combining them with existing vacation days for longer periods of rest.

With this initiative, MPL hopes to tackle head-on the "always-on" culture reported in tech companies. The company also cited many employers relying on Incident Managers On-Call (IMOC) to resolve critical issues, which can lead to employees feeling pressured to check emails or messages.

"Zen Leave addresses this directly by providing a structured method for complete disconnection," stated the company.

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