90-hour work week? No, it will not lead to higher productivity

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A viral video featuring Larsen & Toubro Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan urging employees to consider a 90-hour work week and work on Sundays has sparked widespread discussion, reigniting the debate on work-life balance.

Not everyone is on board with the idea: Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra switched the focus to productivity, saying it is the output, not hours, that matters. A Mint analysis of labour-related data shows that Indians are working long hours for little pay, while labour productivity remains low. The current Indian labour laws mandate that work hours should not exceed nine hours per day, including a rest period of half an hour.

Also read: Beware: 90-hour workweek is nothing; companies are now hiring detectives to check if you’re unwell during sick leaves Nonetheless, data shows that an average Indian employee clocks 46.7 hours per week, according to data from the International Labour Organization (ILO). India is among the most ‘overworked’ nations with 51% of the Indian workforce logging over 49 hours weekly, the highest among 170 countries analysed. Against this, the minimum monthly earnings of an Indian employee is at the lower end of the spectrum at $220, showed the ILO data.

Has the hard work translated into better output? Not necessarily. Labour productivity—the hourly output of a country's economy—is just $8, the lowest among developing nations, according to the ILO. The Reserve Bank of India’s KLEMS database, released last year, shows that six out of the 10 biggest sectors (by gross output) saw their average labour productivity growth slow down in the last five years.