Twitter User's Leave Request To Binge-Watch Series Goes Viral; Stirs Work-Life Balance Discussions

Work-Life Balance is an aspect many people struggle with in today's uber-competitive world. With hectic schedules and work-from-home blurring the distinction between homes and offices, it became essential for people to take a break for their physical and mental health. For the longest period, workplaces demanded serious concerns and valid reasonings, such as physical ailments, to apply for a leave.

Only recently did many employers begin acknowledging their employees' mental health and offering leave periods for the same. With changing times and challenging work profiles, setting boundaries has become necessary. Know how a Twitter user recently applied for one such interesting break and started off a much-needed discussion on work-life balance.

Request For A 'Much-Needed-Leave'

Abhishek Kumar, a journalist with the fact-checking website AltNews, recently took to Twitter to encourage people in the corporate world toward a differential cause. With a proposal to "Normalise Leave's," Abhishek's honest Twitter post has been creating a stir among many regarding the "much-needed work-life balance." The post carried a screengrab from an official email he sent to his employers, conveying the need for a day's off to complete watching his favourite web series.

Explaining the reason in a professional manner, he stated that the reason behind the leave was that he could not binge-watch the web series all night long on weekdays which hampered his sleep cycle. Requesting an untimely leave "to just sit at home and watch Pitchers - Season 2," he assured his employers that he would resume his research and monitoring work as usual from December 24. Taking this image to Twitter, he encouraged social media users to normalise taking leaves and set some time for themselves.

Reactions To The Post

Normalise leave. 😉
It is not necessary that you take leave only when you are sick or for some work that cannot be done without you. pic.twitter.com/rIdCJAJxHN

— Abhishek (@AbhishekSay) December 22, 2022

Besides bringing hilarious reactions to the email, Abhishek offered some food for thought with the caption that read, "It is not necessary that you take leave only when you are sick or for some work that cannot be done without you." Since posted, the tweet has amassed over 2,81,000 views, three thousand likes, and a couple of hundred retweets. Interested to know about the response to the email, many users asked the journalist to post the remaining story as a Twitter thread. Ismat Ara, a fellow journalist from Frontline, commented, "This is so cool. Would love to see the response."

This is so cool. Would love to see the response 😄

— Ismat Ara (@IsmatAraa) December 23, 2022

Several other users commented how they're being made to work through weekends, and even taking a day off could cost a pay cut. These comments highlight toxic work cultures that often engage their employees in round-the-clock assignments. Writing about the same, a user commented that "My boss is very intrusive about leaves and wants to know every detail of a planned holiday. I just make it an unplanned leave and inform him in the morning that something urgent needs to be done, even if it is a planned event."

Taking it from there on, a few users explained that informing employers of the reason for leave is unnecessary, especially if it is within the paid leave period. A user commented that "It was always the case with most organisations. No one should stop you from taking leaves which you have."

Why mention the reason? Leave is your right. The manager shouldn't even ask the reason behind the leave.

— Sahil (@Im_SVee) December 23, 2022

Another user appreciated the honesty and wrote, "Everyone has a right to enjoy his or her personal space even if such space falls during working days." Since being shared and retweeted, many social media users surviving corporate life have related to the "leave" concern and spoke of the need to acknowledge work breaks for a healthy workplace functioning.

Also Read: 'Friend Turned Family': Know How This UK-Based Journalist Became Godfather To UP-Based Auto Driver's Newborn