Is 4 Days Working week really coming to India?

We were all elated when we got a 3-day long weekend this August, due to our independence day, right?

Imagine enjoying a long weekend every week from now on! The Government of India has proposed the idea of a 4 day work week. You might already know that. But the government-mandated work hours per week remains the same.

But is it really coming to India?

Well for starters, corporate sectors like technology, marketing, banking etc. can implement this much easily. But it is not possible for some other sectors. In the manufacturing sector, for example, people will get worn out if they have to work nearly 2 hours more every day. Healthcare and agriculture sector requires regular attention, so it will be tricky there too.

But, so many countries like Spain, Japan, UAE have already implemented and benefitted from this 4 day work week system. Iceland experimented on it from 2015 to 2019. They all observed less overhead costs with better employee health, productivity and work-life balance. Employees are also becoming less stressed and have more energy.

Even in India, Beroe Inc. has implemented this idea since 2017, keeping the work hours per day and compensation intact. They have reportedly observed 2x revenue growth.

But, it might not be feasible for most of India. Why?

According to the Global Wage Report 2020-21, India ranks fifth in the world for long working hours. And as per the PLFS Annual Report, rural India works for about 48 to 52 hours a week and urban India works for about 53 to 55 hours a week on average. Most Indians are working a 48 hour work week, 9.6 hours a day for 5 days.

So, if they have to work 12 hours per day for 4 days a week,

- Given they might need 2-4 hours of transportation every day to and fro work, their work life balance will get heavily disrupted.

- It is not humanly possible to concentrate for so many hours a day, so the productivity might decrease.

- For working couples, this will translate to more hours at a daycare center for their child.

Now, what is the basic logic of this new norm?

According to Perkinson’s law, people take up all the time they can afford to complete a particular work. So even with the same weekly output, people with 40 work hours will take the whole week to complete it, people with 32 work hours can complete it with equal efficiency too.

But so many Indians in the unorganized sector are already working close to 12 hours a day. And so many Indians often need to work extra hours or visit the office even on the weekends to cope with the excessive work pressure. And that is why, with India’s work culture it is not exactly easy to implement for most cases.

But the companies with less working hours already or the ones willing to reduce the working hours for employees, this will become an evolution in the industry. And we can hope that many other companies will start to follow the path led by these.

What do you think about this new and incoming system?