3-day working week, India not ready yet
Mexican billionaire Mr Slim and British businessman Mr Branson are among those who see virtues of a 3-day work week model, under which employees can work for 11-hours a day for three days, following which they can have a 4-day long off in a week.
The
proponents
of
this
believe
that
employee
productivity
can
be
improved
with
longer
working
hours
in
just
three
days,
as
against
spreading
them
across
more
number
of
days.
However,
experts
in
India
believe
it
may
not
be
practical
in
India,
at
least
for
many
industries
and
job
profiles.
"The idea of 11-hour work days is like sprint running or a 100-meter dash and therefore the model will only suit some industries or jobs. For instance customer service, retail, entertainment and healthcare cannot operate on this model," SAP Labs India HR head T. Shivaram said.
"In developing economies where productivity is the key, the need is to create more jobs and therefore this model will not work," Mr Shivaram said.
Moreover, this model can create adverse issues for workers who are paid on per-hour basis, as they might have to take up a second job to make up for the lost income. Such workers would be working for 33 hours under a three-day work model, instead of a standard 40 hours. Joseph Devasia, managing partner of global executive recruitment firm Antal International Network also said that a compressed workplace culture is not at all feasible for India.
"We in India are poor on productivity and a 3-day work week would reduce that further. I believe even now a 5-6 day week produces only as much as 3 days equivalent of work in the western world," he said.
Such a time schedule would also impact those with additional responsibility outside their job, as they would have virtually zero free time during workdays.
PTI