As the government finalises the rules for the new labour codes, a related move by the Labour Ministry on giving flexibility to companies to have four working days, instead of five or six, has become the latest topic of discussion among employees and employers alike. The move will provide companies with the flexibility of four working days in a week, even as the working-hour limit of 48 hours for a week will remain ‘sacrosanct’, according to Union Labour Secretary Apurva Chandra.
This implies that there will be longer working hours, if the working days are reduced. For instance, a four working day week will have to meet the 48-hour weekly work hours, resulting in daily shifts of 12 hours, which will correspondingly reduce, if there is five-day or six-day working week. “We are not forcing employees or employers. It gives flexibility. It’s an enabling provision in sync with the changing work culture,” Chandra says.
Globally, the four-day work week is not a new topic. It started off as a debate in Germany when the country’s largest trade union – IG Metall – called for a four-day week in 2020. Incidentally, Germany already has the lowest working hours in a week at 34.2 hours. Then came Microsoft’s experiment in 2019 in its Japan office, where productivity jumped by 40 per cent as a four-day week made for the perfect work-life balance. And, it wasn’t just great for the employees; the number of pages printed was down, electricity consumption was a lot less as well.
A World Economic Forum survey of businesses that had implemented the policy showed that it can help companies “make savings of almost 2 per cent of total turnover each year”. But there are also challenges, especially, in the service sector where four days might not be enough to meet consumer expectations and demands.
Rule making process
How soon this will be implemented depends on the speed with which the Ministry of Labour & Employment completes the process to finalising the rules for four labour codes soon. Officials say that the rule-making process is already underway and all stakeholders are being consulted.
The labour ministry has envisaged implementing the four labour codes from 1 April this year in one go. These four codes (on wages, industrial relations, occupational safety and health & working conditions), as also the social security codes, are the result of an exercise amalgamating 44 Central labour laws.
The provision of flexibility to have reduced working days of four days in the labour code rules will mean that companies will not require prior government nod to enact it. However, certain clarifications have been offered. Having educed number of working days does not mean cuts in paid holidays. Therefore, when the new rules will provide flexibility of four working days, it would imply three paid holidays. “It (working days) could come down below five. If it is four, then you have to provide three paid holidays…so, if it has to be a seven day week, then it has to be divided into four, five or six working days,” says Chandra.
Experts believe that employers will have the freedom to choose to have eight to 12 hours workdays, based on demand, industry and location. Many employees are likely to be thrilled with the possibility of spending extra time on leisure activities and recover effectively from their weekly pressures.
Companies can also benefit from lower office rental costs and more energised and productive staff. “It will benefit sectors such as information technology and shared services. In the banking and financial services industry, 20-30 per cent people can use the long working hour template for four or five days and enjoy a longer break,” says Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno, a human resource firm.
It shall also benefit a new generation of workers, who value ‘me time’ and would prefer working long hours for fewer days to get an extra off. Besides, foreign firms will be the first to adopt it as this will reduce their real estate expenditure at one end and improve productivity of workers on the other. “The Covid-19 work culture has given companies a proof of concept and its adoption won’t be tough,” affirms Karanth.
Rituparna Chakraborty, executive vice-president, TeamLease Services, feels the move will benefit both employees and employers. “It’s not enforcement but an option. I believe labour-intensive sectors, such as manufacturing will adopt them,” says Chakraborty.