Open Forum

New Delhi, 22 November 2023

Raising Work Productivity

MORE HOURS NOT AN ANSWER 

By Dhurjati Mukherjee 

Increasing workers’ productivity is an issue which has come into sharp focus following a recent podcast of legendary co-founder of tech giant Infosys NR Narayana Murthy, wherein he requested youngsters to work for ‘70 hours a week’. India’s work productivity, he said “is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity... we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress.” So, he added the “youngsters must say ‘This is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week”. 

Undeniably, labour productivity in India is quite low compared to many countries, even in the emerging economies. Thus, there is need to raise productivity, as efficiency increase is the order of the day, and must be ensured to make India competitive in the global market. 

However, the question arises whether this would be possible through more efficiency, which could be brought about by use of technology and/or better planning etc. or through extending a longer work week. The latter option is not evident in most other countries and therefore may not be acceptable. Moreover, working more hours per week does not necessarily improve work culture and standards. 

While urging the need for increasing productivity, the prevailing situation in the country, not just in the modern industrial sector but also in the traditional industrial sector in both big and medium industries needs to be considered. A section of analysts has been harping more on the induction of technology than in longer working hours. However, it may be mentioned here that in the unregulated informal sector, the working hours are around 70 hours a week. 

Some feel that Murthy’s thesis is not quite correct as productivity is not necessarily linked to how many hours people work. Indians already work longer hours than most. The Indian government’s time-use survey in 2019 found that men between the ages of 15 and 59 in urban India spent an average of 521 minutes a day in paid employment. That translates to over 60 hours a week. The number is even higher if you exclude those with only primary education. Indians, according to an ILO report, already work long hours ‘worked an average of more than 2,000 hours every year before the pandemic, much higher than the US, Brazil and Germany.’ 

Murthy pinpointed India’s underwhelming work productivity, ranking among the lowest in the world, which is possibly not the fact. The case of China, which is well known for high levels of efficiency and skill, needs to be studied. The China Labour-Force Dynamics Survey in 2017 revealed that the average employee in the People’s Republic spent just under 45 hours at work, though more than 40 percent reported that they were working over 50 hours a week. 

There are, however, some sectors in that country where the working hours are around 60-62 hours a week. But China’s progress and prosperity has been not because of long hours of work but due to high technological prowess. During the pandemic, work was being done from home but at least one survey found that Indians – may be also the Chinese -- had to put in more unpaid overtime. 

Murthy’s comparison with Germany also does not appear convincing. Though Germany’s workers in the 1950s certainly worked longer hours than, say, the British, the total was still probably between 45 and 50 hours a week though presently it’s not more than 50 hours a week. However, presently South Koreans have longer working hours, which may be around 60 hours a week. 

These comparisons are aimed at highlighting the fact that working longer hours need not necessarily boost productivity. Though Murthy has not referred to the government sector, where it is generally believed that productivity is low, the main reason that can be attributed for this is the lack of proper advance planning. But even then, one can say that even without corporate level efficiency, government hospitals have the best doctors and best treatment is received in these places. Obviously, this is because of high levels of skill and efficiency. 

Recall that more than a decade ago, Ratan Tata had complained to The Times, London that the management of the British steel company (Corus) and automaker (Jaguar Land Rover) he had taken over didn’t work hard enough. They wouldn’t stay for meetings that lasted past 5 p.m.; offices emptied early on Friday. Tata Steel’s hard-edged management, he implied, would soon set that right. India Inc.’s luminaries lined up to drape themselves in the flag and endorse their fellow billionaire. 

The five-day week culture may not be ideal for a developing nation like India, but factories operate for six days a week and most private sector companies also follow the same principle. It is necessary to mention here that if corporate India wants workers to work longer hours, it will need to create high productivity jobs for them. It is here that there is need to understand the nature of employment of India’s workforce and whether such jobs can be created for them. 

With more than 45 percent of India’s workers engaged in agriculture and another 40 percent in enterprises employing nine or fewer workers, high productivity jobs are scarce in the country. The reason is quite obvious -- we are yet to establish an efficient and technologically developed structure. The huge labour force does not find adequate employment and even those who find employment are without jobs for around six months a year. Whether it be agriculture or agro-based industries or even the informal sector, modernisation has not taken place yet. 

With little capital and land to work on, the marginal product of labour is too small to convince workers to work harder. Moreover, the situation is such that harder work does not reach the employee in most cases but are taken away by the employer in connivance with corrupt political leaders. All the talk of increasing working hours is limited to the top corporate sectors which have unfortunately got all the attention of the government and the country. In fact, all the capital has been invested in these few sectors, which employs around 8-9 percent of the total workforce.  

It is now necessary that a change be brought about in the informal sector of the country where pay structure, working hours, overtime allowance is fixed, and workers are not allowed to be exploited. Entrepreneurs like Murthy can talk about more working hours and can examine the labour put in by those who work in the informal sector and devise ways and means and then advise the government to conduct a comprehensive study towards reforming this sector and improving the working conditions of the workers.---INFA 

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)