International Workers’ Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1st of May.
On this day, we chose to pick an important and bothersome labour code: Four-day work week, with 12-four shift that is yet to be implemented in India, and analyze it.
Amid pandemic, the functioning of work force across the world has shifted dramatically. From running an entire company over Zoom, to masking, and suiting up in virus outbreaks to go to workplaces, the employees have seen it all.
Now it has come down hybrid schedules where the worker is supposed to attend office a few days a week or when needed and work from home in the rest of the days.
On top of all, many countries have started opting for a four-day work week regime. Of them is Iceland, for example, ran a trial for the same from 2015 to 2019 and came out with positive results. Likewise, Spain, Scotland, Ireland and New Zealand also joined the four-day work week club. Japan, UAE and Belgium have also started implementing this regime and have come to notice a measurable difference in terms of increase in employee productivity, happiness, well-being and work-life balance. A decrease in turnover and lower overhead costs were also observed.
This has propelled the Indian government to change the labour laws which are to be implemented in the next financial year, i.e., FY 2022-23. And one of these proposals for the new labour codes is the option to shift to a four-day workweek. But there could be a matter of concern. Firstly it must be analyzed after its implementation how many work days are in a year.
Is Four-Day Work Week, 12-Hour Shift Feasible In India?
In India, employees work for about 48 hours a week and as per this new proposal, the number of working hours in a week will remain the same. For that they could either opt for working for about 9.6 hours a day for five days or 12 hours a day for four days, with the total number of working hours in a week remaining constant.
But then this can’t possibly be implemented in all industries. It may somehow fit in the case of the corporate offices of industries such as technology, banking, insurance, and e-commerce. But it would not be feasible to shift to a four-day work week for industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and healthcare.
It wouldn’t be humanely possible for the labourers of the manufacturing sector to work in a repetitive motion for such long hours. Such workers are not allowed to work for more than eight hours a day, according to the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.
Likewise, industries such as agriculture and healthcare require regular attention and hence won’t be sustainable in a four-day work week.
But then imagine someone in a similar 12-hour shift. To reach the office, they need to prepare food, wash, and clean themselves, take a commute, and also return by some mode of transport. This may take an hour or two to several hours for those who travel from nearby cities, or areas to their workplace. This leaves very little or no time for a person to have a personal life, other than attending to the basic needs of the body. The person may or may not have a complete 8 hour sleep as well.
According to Global Wage Report 2020-21, India ranks fifth in the world for long working hours. Likewise, 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.
So, the bottom-line is most employees already have long shifts, a shift to a four-day work week will mean that they’ll have to work for slightly more time for 4 days and get an extra day off.
But then there’s an Indian Company Beroe Inc, a market intelligence firm, which implemented a four-day work week without increasing daily working hours and keeping compensation the same. With this, back in 2017, they observed a productivity rise of over 200% as compared to their previous five-day work week regime.
Yet it is argued that 9.5 hours a day allows for better work-life balance and it brings down the chances of burnout. The four-day work week wouldn’t be feasible in India as it will cause low productivity due to long working hours, longer duration of children at daycare for working couples, and difficulty and lethargy in transition from weekend to weekdays if the number of weekends increases.
A study published by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) shows that there is an inverse relationship between the number of hours an employee works for and his/her productivity levels. So, if the employees decide to move from an already high 9.6 hours a day to 12 hours a day working format, it might be counter-productive for the employee and the organization.
The motive of a four-day work week was to reduce the number of weekly working hours. But this increased daily work hours might be a futile move as it could lead to less productivity than before and reduce employee well-being as the number of working hours in a week remain the same.