India May Soon Allow 4-Day Work week

In a surprising development, Indian Union Ministry of Labour and Employment would soon give a green signal to companies to allow four-day workweek. As the government is working on new labour codes now, there is an inevitable situation like no pain no gain. Along with a three-day weekend, there come prolonged working hours that employees are unused with.

The new labour codes have three days of paid leaves and 12 hours of work per day. It will also provide free medical check-ups to workers through the Employees State Insurance Corporation. Last year when a survey was conducted, employees said that a four-day workweek concept is something they would see five years later in India. Because the current situation is opposite as some employees are asked to work beyond five days a week.

Indians are notorious for their habit of working long hours, mostly in warranted situations than unwarranted. And working beyond 48 hours a week means crossing the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) norms of working. According to the labour standards. “the general standard is 48 regular hours of work per week, with a maximum of eight hours per day.” says the ILO website.

The debate on the four-day workweek vs five-day workweek is not new and one would only see pros on allocating the former concept. This might increase employee satisfaction, company commitment and teamwork, besides reducing stress levels of an employee. The debate was first started off in 2020 by Germany’s largest trade union – IG Metall, where they took the side of working only four days a week. Germany already has the lowest working hours in a week at 34.2 hours.