4-Day Work-Week Proposed In the UK; Is This Possible In India Anytime Soon?

United Kingdom’s one of the largest and most influential employee unions have strongly pitched for a 4-day work-week for all employees working the UK.

This has triggered a global debate on the work conditions of employees, and more importantly, a big question: Can this be implemented anytime soon?

We try to find out what experts are stating on this, and what all major innovations/experiments have been done by employers to change the current situation.

Keep reading to find out more!

UK Trade Union: We Need 4-Day Work-Week!

Trades Union Congress, which is an umbrella group of some of the biggest employee unions in the UK, have presented their new report: “A Future That Works For Working People”.

In the report, they have argued that improved technology and systems should benefit the common man, and his working hours should be reduced.

The report strongly pitches for a universal ‘4-hours Work Week’ protocol for all employees.

In their annual conference, Frances O’Grady, the head of the Trades Union Congress said, “I believe that in this century, we can win a four-day working week, with decent pay for everyone,”

The report condemns employers who are asking too much from their employees, and indirectly forcing them to work 24 * 7.

Experts Debate This Possibility!

John Maynard Keynes, a renowned British economist had predicted way back in 1930, that eventually, humans will only work for 15 hours a week.

Not only this seems tough as of now, but employees are working, even more, these days, despite advances in technology and science.

After Trades Union Congress’ pitch for 4-day work week, HR experts and industry watchers have triggered an intense debate on this issue.

As per Recruitment experts, it would be ‘tough convincing companies’ to allow 4-day work week for employees, as competition is cut-throat, and any company going after 4-day work week will be at a disadvantage, compared to their competitor.

Other experts are stating that employees may feel the pressure to wrap up the work of 5 days into 4 days, hence, can feel stressed.

4-Hour Work Week Possible In India?

A few days back, we had reported how Amazon India has decided to forbid their employees from responding to work-related emails after 6 PM.

This was done to improve work conditions of employees, and to relieve them of work-related pressure, and to have a better work-life balance.

But implementing a 4-day work week for Indians seems a bit far-stretched as of now.

In Sweden, a 6-hour work day experiment was conducted. Employees were happy, no doubt, but the whole exercise was too expensive.

When Perpetual Guardian, a company in New Zealand implemented 1 4-day work week, with the same wages, then productivity increased by 32%. Now, they are debating whether this experiment should be permanent.

Amazon Global had implemented a 30 hours work-week program, however, the wages were reduced. Employees weren’t too happy.

Our Opinion:

The concept of 4-day work-week sounds exciting and promising. However, its implementation has to be gradual, and Universal. Companies shouldn’t feel that they are losing out to competition, and employees should feel the pressure to complete a week’s work in 4 days.

Do let us know what do you think about the future of work, by commenting right here!

Image Source: Youtube (Walmart India Happy Song (May’14)