Upon the recent statement of actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut that has sparked immense discussion, people from all walks have been expressing their personal views to India’s weekend work culture.
According to Randstad’s latest Workmonitor, ambition is no longer viewed in its traditional sense of career progression. Work-life balance, flexibility, equity and skilling are now at the heart of career decision.
The concept of weekend dates to industrial area when people used to get weekends off and weeks were divided by number of hours that they worked. Initially, it used to be a 60-hour week, then it came down to 48, now it is 40 hours a week in most countries. During this time the number of hours was the measure of productivity – given the factory driven industrial growth.
Various researches have been indicating that post-covid, the way we have been looking at work culture has changed manifolds. Surveys and reports have showcased proven stats of how work-life balance has become employees’ top priority and their productivity too have been improved.
Here are the view of a few HRs/CEOs/MDs of how they perceive the notion of weekend offs as an influence of west or the right way to prioritise work-life balance:
Viswanath P.S, CEO, Randstad India
The 70-hour work week or longer working hours may not have the desired impact on the productivity per say. Such a framework would require a minimum of 11-12 hours a day excluding travel time will lead to severe loss of productivity and happiness at work. It will have a serious impact on people’s mental well-being as well as overall well-being. Moreover, such arrangements will lead to job losses, especially in a country like India with a bulging population where unemployment rates need to be kept under control. At the same time, there are high chances that these work models will impact gender representation in the workforce and cause an imbalance.
Rajeev Bhardwaj, CHRO, Sun Life Asia Service Centre
Productivity is a combination of many things in addition to the work hours. Infact, I have a different take on enhancing productivity; a rather humane outlook. An organisation can look at many ways to retain its employees and ensure their productivity doesn’t decline – and not limit it to working hours alone. Setting right KRAs for timely performance and appraisal systems, to support employees with offline and online training to up their skill sets and promote their growth are some of the key steps that an organisation can take. In addition, organizations need to have an efficient “listening and check-in” mechanism in place to understand how their employees are feeling and what their needs are. Engagement surveys, pulse-surveys where in timely “check-in’s” are done with employees on a regular basis are great tools to understand employee sentiment. Basis these surveys and feedback received; an organisation can take timely action to resolve a problem at an early stage.
Praveen Purohit, Dy Group CHRO, Vedanta Group
I think we have come a long way in appreciating the need for ‘work-life integration’ that is also need of the hour as we look at moving up into top 3 economy of the globe. To my mind our demographic dividend and especially power & energy of our youth is our great advantage that can help us reach the next level growth sooner and better. I have seen People are ready to put in extra hours to get best result but important is how do we make most of today’s technology and innovation to make working productive and better that gives more motivation and comfort. Recognition and incentivising the value addition will always remain a key success factor in our eco- system.
Shashwat K Mitra, Global Head of HR, KPIT Technologies
The demography and work preferences are ever changing, from agriculture based economy to chip based industry the preference are personal and the needs are different. Weekends aren’t for a break from work but offer more designated time for employees with their families. We are moving from live to work to living for a purpose; the shift is slow but its distinctively happening.
Prabir Jha, Founder & CEO, Prabir Jha People Advisory
Work hard does not mean work slavish. Like an athlete needs to rejuvenate so too the mind. And a rested mind and body can get more out of time than just blind hours. There will be the odd peaks but you cannot sustain 70 hours without social and familial support. India is changing on those. So I do not think this is something I support. We must get our thinking better. We must move out of the bad Multi -tasking mindset as a badge of honour to more impacting focussed work. This is a huge mindset shift.
