Four-Day Work Week and 48 Weekly Hours- The Curious Case of New Indian Labour Code

The Indian labour Ministry has decided to allow companies to offer flexibility in working days and hours. According to a BS report, Labour secretary Apurva Chandra has said that many companies are interested in providing a four-day work shift. Thus, the ministry has decided to provide flexibility in working days. It may now be possible for employers to provide a four-day work week. Further, they aim to keep the maximum weekly limit to 48 hours. Thus, companies may have the option to choose for a four-day week. On the contrary, employees will have to adjust to longer shifts, presumably 12 hours a day.

The government will soon incorporate the work hour flexibility into the labour codes. The Government has stated that companies will have to provide three consecutive holidays after the four-day work week. Notably, the Centre had passed four labour codes in Parliament in September 2020, following draft rules formulated in December. It has already indicated that it can implement all the four Labour Codes — Wages, Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions and Social Security — before the start of the new financial year. All these have been enacted and draft Rules and draft model Standing Orders are already up for discussion. The government received comments concerning these rules in January.

Background on the Four-Day Work Week

The concept of the four-day work week is not a new topic of debate. But even in 2020, many experts have debated that the concept is still a few years away; especially when India is still not used to 5-day-work-week. When IG Metall of Germany, called for a four-day work week in 2020, the topic took a newer turn. Later, Microsoft's experiment in Japan, that increased productivity by 40%, also provided a fresh perspective. The event was beneficial for both employees and employers. While employees could better manage work-life balance, employers saw cost-cutting in terms of electricity and number of pages printed.

The current work week regulations in India

Presently, in India, too, the maximum limit for weekly hours is 48. The daily limit caps at 9 hours a day with one long and two small breaks. Yet, when an employee works 6 days, 9 hours with one break, the limit gets overlooked. Even the current regulations pose many problems, especially for employees. The Economic Survey 2021 reveals many loopholes that straight point that the reforms are not very employee-friendly.

“We are not forcing employees or employers. It gives flexibility. It’s an enabling provision in sync with the changing work culture. We have tried to make some changes. We have tried to give flexibility in working days,” Chandra has said.

But, the idea of Four-Day Work Week for Indian companies looks bleak

Although the Government proposed to introduce the flexible system, the idea still looks bleak. Why? Because Indian employees are currently subjected to 5 or 6 workday week with almost 9-11 hours a day. This is way more than the limit of 48 hours. So, many companies will only exploit the four-day work week with 48 hours limit.

Meanwhile, many experts have also argued the total effect of the other three codes of industrial relations, social security and OSH combined. The three labour codes seen together fail to achieve even reasonable balance between enabling of ease of doing business and protecting and strengthening labour welfare and their rights, a BT report stated. It also added that the new regulations reduce compliances burden and incentivise firms towards formalisation. The government may provide a website to help gig, platform and migrant workers find jobs, but the reduction in the minimum wage does not compensate for the same.

Similarly, provision for free medical checkups to workers through the Employees State Insurance Corporation does not compensate for the reduced compliance on companies wrt workers' health regulations.

Other reforms in the labour law (apart from the four-day work week)

The Labour Ministry aims to provide 41 central labour laws into four broad codes. They are - wages, industrial relations, social security and OSH. Further, according to the Economic Survey 2020-21, the drastic reductions in compliance stem from (i) 41 central labour laws being reduced to four, (ii) the number of sections falling by 60 per cent from about 1200 to 480, (iii) the maze due to the number of minimum wages being reduced from about 2000 to 40, (iv) one registration instead of six, (v) one license instead of four, and (vi) de-criminalisation of several offences.”

To sum it up..

The change may direct Indian companies to exercise flexible work options. And while we cannot ignore the positive side of the law, it mostly has implementation loopholes. Thus, it leaves many employees at risk of exploitation at the hands of employers. Further, upto 12 hours of work plus commute for four days, even with three days paid leaves will burn out employees, especially in factory settings.