Employees Working Hours and Their Productivity

Abstract

In India, a salaried person works 40 hours per week under the generally accepted norm of Nine to Five job schedule. In comparison, Indians log longer hours than the most others. Average weekly hours worked on the job as shown in the Pictorial (2014) indicate that Turkey topped the list at 49.1 hours followed by Mexico at 44.7 hours, South Korea at 43.3 hours, and Israel at 40.4 hours. At the other end of the spectrum, developed countries like Netherlands, Denmark and Norway reported the lowest hours at 28.9, 32.5 and 33.9 hours per week respectively. The question is whether long working hours means more progress, more productivity, and more development. The answer is "NO", not at all. ILO Report-2007 "Working Time around the world" reveals that lesser percentage of workforce in developed economics put in long hours of work as compared to developing countries. For example, in Norway, only 5.3 per cent of total work force work more that the normal 48 hours per week whereas in Peru and Korea about 50 per cent people work more than 48 hours per week. In USA, it is 18.1 percent work force more than 48 hours as against India where 40 per cent of total work force works more than 48 hours per week. This only indicates that it is not the longer hours of work that matters but it is the Decent work done in the given time framework.