Why some companies in India are still on a 6 day work week

By Somali K Chakrabarti

Working for 6 days a week is never a particularly appealing idea. Most people would agree that a single Sunday is not enough to wash away the fatigue of working throughout the week.

Till recently when my spouse had a 6 day work week, life outside of work was dreary, almost non-existent as the weekends were generally spent on routine household chores, stocking stuff for weekly consumption or for occasionally watching a movie. Others with a 6 day work week would admit to having a similar lackluster schedule.

Surprisingly, now close to 100 years after the 5 day, '40 hours’ work week was first instituted by Henry Ford, to boost productivity among workers, many Indian companies are still hesitant about adopting a 5 day culture.

It is interesting to note that from time to time, number of studies have indicated that working for long hours over a period of time does not increase productivity. Quite the reverse, productivity is supposed to drop beyond 40 hours of work per week (as per a research paper published in 2011, by the International Labour Organization).

Working for long hours over prolonged periods are known to cause strain, fatigue and burn out among the middle aged people, thereby impacting cognitive performance and productivity, shows a study published in the American Journal of Epidemilogy [i].

In wake of the knowledge that productivity does not increase with a longer work week, the question arises :

Why are some Indian companies still on a 6 day work week? 

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