Superstition is quite high among employees in India (61 per cent) and more than half of the respondents in a survey said they are superstitious at their work place.

While Vaastu Shastra and Feng Shui are the most common practices followed at the workplace, the personal favourites are lucky charms such as stones, colour specific items, specific number oriented items and the ubiquitous bamboo shoot, the study said.

The survey, conducted by TeamLease Services, the country’s composite staffing company, found that management in India are generally adaptive to various superstitious beliefs of employees and do not restrict them from practising them at work as long as it does not negatively affect productivity. Besides, a majority of the senior management at companies themselves believe that superstitious practices are more prevalent at the top of the order.

The survey, tiled ‘ Superstitions@Workplace’ covered 800 companies across top eight cities in India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.

About 48 per cent of the respondents felt that practising superstition at workplace has had a positive effect and modern organisations impose fewer restrictions on such practices. Employees across all levels and cities are happy with the kind of superstitious practices being followed in their organisations, the study showed.

A higher percentage of female employees (80 per cent) are happy with superstitious practices followed in their organisations compared to males (68 per cent), the study added.

>Priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

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