Increased Productivity Is Not Directly Related To Longer Working Hours
The India Commentary view
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-10-30 02:41:22
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The India Commentary view
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Is better productivity related to longer working hours? No one has conclusively proved that. Yet, time and again, it is argued that to improve India's abysmally low productivity (which is among the lowest in the world, as per ILO data), Indians should work for longer hours. Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy said in a recent interview that the youth in India should work for 70 hours a week (roughly translating to 12 working hours per day if one considers 6 working days per week). This has given a fresh lease of life to the old debate.
In India, especially in the government sector, time is never considered important to finish 'official' work. Deadlines are never kept and requests for grant of extension to finish work are routinely made and astonishingly, routinely accepted by the higher-ups. Yet, the same work is completed much ahead of time if palms are greased. As long the average Indian refuses to put a value on time and honesty, productivity will not increase.
Earlier, in government offices, it was the newspaper, personal gossip and endless rounds of tea which lowered productivity. Now it is the mobile phone and social media. Most Indians never show an urgency to complete their work and increase productivity. Instead, they try to drag their feet over the given work so that no new work is allotted to them. Discipline and commitment are sadly words that do not exist in the dictionary of the average Indian worker, especially in the government sector (including the railways), which, incidentally, is the biggest employer in the country (after the agriculture sector).
But the solution is not longer working hours. That will just end up making Rohit a dull boy. The solution is in making the workforce raise their hands, accept responsibility and show commitment. For this to happen, all employers must be ready to first show equal responsibility and commitment towards the workforce. Continuous investment in making the workforce learn to adapt to the challenges thrown up by technological advances, investing in technology and devising ways to keep happy faces in the work place is more important than longer working hours. Companies that have adopted these principles have seen their productivity rise.
