The Kerala plant that by no means stopped: Marico’s weird HR trick that truly labored
In Nineteen Nineties Kerala, opening a manufacturing facility was virtually suicidal. Union strikes routinely introduced vegetation to a standstill, and labor unrest made the state industrially poisonous. But one manufacturing facility, Marico’s Parachute oil unit in Kanjikode, ran for 30 uninterrupted years.
Monetary advisor Abhijit Chokshi revealed the shocking cause in a viral publish on X: a psychological hack lifted straight from college sports activities day.
Chokshi’s publish particulars how Marico, going through skyrocketing prices transporting copra 1,400 kilometers from Kerala to Mumbai, made a daring transfer—establishing a crushing plant on the supply. The mathematics made sense. The timing didn’t. Kerala, on the time, was India’s labor unrest capital, logging over 180 man-days misplaced per 1,000 employees yearly. Most corporations steered clear. Marico walked straight in.
What stored the manufacturing facility operating, in accordance with Chokshi, wasn’t tighter controls or stronger safety. It was a intelligent HR intervention that began after hours.
“Most unrest brewed after work,” Chokshi wrote. “Idle time, alcohol, and gossip created fertile floor for union leaders to govern.”
Marico’s HR group took a counterintuitive route: they turned the manufacturing facility right into a schoolyard. Employees had been break up into 4 homes—Pink, Blue, Yellow, Inexperienced. After hours, they battled it out in cricket matches, debates, quizzes, and cultural occasions.
Winners bought recognition. Everybody bought concerned.
“As a substitute of hanging out at tea stalls, complaining about administration,” Chokshi wrote, “employees had been rehearsing songs, coaching for cricket, cheering their group on.”
The temper flipped in six months. Employees bonded throughout roles. Grievances shrank. Union affect waned. And whereas different vegetation within the state noticed weekly disruptions, Marico’s Kanjikode unit grew to become an HR case research in stability.
“HR consultants spend on retreats,” Chokshi concluded. “Marico simply ran a couple of pleasant video games—and received loyalty for all times.”
Three many years later, the manufacturing facility nonetheless hasn’t seen a single strike.
