Terms like work from home, hybrid working, and remote working are no more unfamiliar concepts, all thanks to COVID-19. When things normalised and it was time to get back to the original working style, it was very difficult for many employees to shift back to a complete offline working mode and also many companies found it tough to provide a remote or hybrid working option due to the kind of work involved. To cope with these difficulties the government of India has now come up with a provision for a 4-day working week.
According to the new provision of the labour laws introduced, instead of the standard five-day work week, companies can permit their staff to work four days per week. However, employees who choose a 4-day work week will have to work for 12 hours per day instead of the usual 8-9 hours of a 5-day work week. This may come with certain difficulties like fixing the working hours, as people will have to work more to get an extra day off and a reduction in take-home salaries is also expected.
But not all industries can adopt this practice of working. While it may seem to be a good idea for sectors like Banking, E-commerce etc but for industries like Health care, Manufacturing etc it may not be a great idea. While this concept has been tried, tested and applied to various countries globally, it will be a new concept for Indians even though it comes with a lot of benefits. Working 9 to 5 for 5 days seems very stressful and tiresome to many, often people end up neglecting families and personal needs but now Thursdays will be the new Fridays, giving people enough time to do other things in life as well other than working. In fact, according to a survey conducted by Qualtrics, 91 per cent of full-time employees in India prefer a four-day workweek. Employee performance, respondents believe, should be measured by results rather than hours and days worked, with 88 per cent of respondents supportive of this approach. Close to 26 per cent expect to work fewer hours.
Several countries such as Spain, Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, and Iceland have a four-day work week on an experimental basis but they reduced the number of weekly working hours.
Employees would often feel burned out by the end of the month, facing severe stress and a complete blurring of work-life balance. Adopting this practice in India may help Indians maintain a work-life balance and enhance their quality of living. Giving employees enough time for their personal life, health, hobbies and families will result in happy, well-rested and more productive employees. If this working system is implemented in India it may just be a win-win situation for both employees and employers.
© Vygr Media Private Limited 2022. All Rights Reserved.
