A three-day WORK WEEK?

Yasmin.Taj@timesgroup.com



Some of the world's top business leaders see immense value in a three-day work week model. But is
India ready for it?
Would you be more productive and hap pier if you could get to work only three days in a week and have four
days off ?
Some of the world's top business leaders like Carlos Slim and Richard Branson are propagating the three-day
working week to boost employee productivity . Slim and Branson are among those who see the virtues of a
three-day work week model, work week model, under which employees can work for 11-hours a day for three
days, following which they can have a four-day long weekend.
The idea of a three-day work week does sound very tempting; however, in India, do organisations find this
practical?
According to Abraham Alapatt, chief innovation officer and head marketing and service quality , Thomas
Cook (India) Ltd, while working thrice a week is a Utopian concept, it has its own pros and cons. For a
salaried professional, it is a win-win situation as they can maintain their work-life balance. Having said that,
the three-day working week may not suit all industries; for example the tertiary sector in India, which operates
on a 24x7 model and the manufacturing sector where productivity will be physically limited by number of
working hours, he expresses.
For many organisations, it is a complete no-no. Ravishankar G, president, HR and strategy , CRISIL asserts,
Given the stage of development and the fast-paced growth trajectory that we are looking at for India, this
model may not be applicable at this juncture.On the contrary , we need more hands on deck given the lack of
skilled labour, to push forward our ambitious growth agenda.
The three-day working week is not only infeasible but also impractical globally , states Faisal Nadeem Saiyed,
director, HR, Expedia India.Imagine the innumerable challenges that get thrown up any service-oriented
industry may potentially buckle under the pressure of a logistical re-organisation. And why should we limit
ourselves to the service industry; what about manufacturing? How will we roster thermal and nuclear plants,
factories, stock markets, banks and so on? he questions.
Tarun Katyal, chief HR officer, MTS India adds, The In dian telecom industry is highly competitive and time
is the essence of success. Hence, three-day working is not feasible for it. In fact, some of the industries like
retail, customer service, entertainment and healthcare may not even run on this model. The only possibility of
this getting implemented in India would be some of the new-age industries like IT, consulting or any project-
based industry with the B2B model. Experts believe that a threeday work week can actually lead to too much
leisure time and have adverse affects. Rohit Aggarwal, CEO & founder, Koenig Solutions Ltd gives a different
perspective to this ar gument and explains, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy , but the vice versa is
also equally true. Unless we want to reduce the intellectual capabilities of mankind, I think it is best to stay
with the current 40-hours five-day week, which became a stan dard in the 1930s. A three-day 33-hour week
will not be even half as productive as a fiveday 40-hour week. Also, more leisure requires more money .Will it
not make people feel poorer and hence unhappier? Saiyed further elaborates that the key ingredients for
employee productivity were and continue to be: `meaningful' work, respect and fairness, an enabling work
environment and tools, adequate compensation and so on. Wherev er employees get these ingredients, they
feel `valued' and are willing to put in discretionary effort in going above and beyond their work. For such high-
performing employees, it hardly matters how many days a week they put in, he concludes.
Though this model seems unlikely to be coming to India very soon, some people do believe it might just
happen sooner than expected. Globalisa tion has made this world a common place of work. Soon er or later,
most of the practices, which were completely unimaginable have come to India. If such a practice gets
implemented in a few companies abroad, then within the next four-five years, the practice can be implemented
in a phased manner across selected industries. There are various avenues where the model can be tried and
tested to bring in increased efficiencies, asserts Katyal.
Hence, with working hours reducing across the globe, it would be exciting to see if India Inc follows suit or
not. Till then, happy working!