Back to work as holiday, festival season ends

As the holiday season came to an end on Monday, offices in both the public and private sector are expected to witness full attendance from Tuesday onwards.

All the employees, even those who have been on summer holidays, will also join others to return to work after the Eid al Adha break.

“Holiday season in Oman this year is over. Now we have to focus on our work without any holiday hangover,” said Mohsin al Yakubi, a senior official at a government establishment.

According to him, coming back to work after a long vacation can be a challenge for any employee.

“We have to change our mindset while returning to work. We should be of full energy to have a fresh start on our return. We have come out of the holiday blues. Everyone has to be on work mode now”, he suggested.

Many employees have been on their annual leave coinciding with Eid al Adha holidays and also summer vacation for their children.

The attendance is expected to be full today as many employees did not prefer to go out of the country during Eid al Adha holidays as was evident from the average presence of people at local eateries and shopping malls.

“There was enthusiasm lacking among people to go out due to shortened number of holidays this time unlike in the previous years,” said Badr al Lawati, manager at a bank.

This was apparently visible at the airport where there has not been much flow of people returning home.

Similarly, most shopping centres in the capital witnessed unprecedented crowds.

“Unlike in the past, there have been large number of people in the market this time, even though many of them came for window shopping,” said Fasial Ahmed, a salesman at a leading hypermarket.

According to Girish Patel, manager, human resources at a private sector company, short holidays are helpful to refresh and rejuvenate employees.

“Once people get time to refresh themselves, their productivity will also increase”, he said.

Yet, long holidays will help boost tourism, he added.

Meanwhile, officials are relieved that the holidays passed off without any major accidents except for a few cases of fire incidents, a drowning and a couple of minor road accidents.

The Royal Oman Police, like in the past, had mounted patrols on the highways and in highly populated areas such as mosques, public parks and residential areas.

SAMUEL KUTTY