Company blacking out windows to stop workers leaving at the sight of empty roads

A company in Dhaka has started blacking out its windows to increase productivity in the month of Ramadan.   

This came to light after the glass front of the building, which houses the company, was seen being painted black yesterday. 

The building is located on one of the busiest thoroughfares in the capital.

This correspondent visited the company yesterday and talked to employees and management to find the reason for this unusual action.

At the request of management and ignoring the pleas of employees, Satireday has decided not to name the company.

"Everything was going fine at the start of Ramadan," said a top official. "For the first few days, it was business as usual -- us telling employees they should work harder, longer, faster and them constantly failing … you know the drill, right?" asked a top official of the company.

"But one day, about a week into Ramadan, around 2:00pm we [other top officials] heard what I can only call crazed laughter from the floor where everyone else works."

The top official said that upon going down to the floor, he saw one of the employees laughing maniacally as he gathered his stuff and without explanation ran full pelt towards the exit.

"He [the employee] apparently looked out the window and saw that the streets were mostly empty, with just one or two vehicles on the road," the senior member of management said.

He then shouted "IFTAAAR!!!" and ran out the door.

Speaking to the employees, this correspondent learnt that over the following days, others followed the footsteps of the "trailblazer", as they called the original bolter.

"It takes us two hours to get home for iftar. It doesn't matter where home is or what mode of transport we choose to take, it takes two hours. So, that means we miss iftar at home every day," an employee said, adding that every day between 1:00pm and 2:00pm there was a lull in traffic.

"So, when we go stand by the window to look at the world outside, and see that the road is empty, how can we not drop whatever work there is and head out the door?" the employee asked.

This correspondent talked to another top official and asked him whether blackening windows would do the trick, as the employees already know that the roads are relatively free during a particular hour.

"Oh, we are taking care of that too. We are piping in sounds of traffic into the general workspace, so that they think there is terrible congestion outside.

"It has to be done, otherwise productivity will fall and before you know it, management won't be able to order in the lavish iftars."