Not 15 hours a day, rather a six-hour work day will help the nation

In any civilised country, a high-paid CEO making sexist statements about work hours and mocking his employees would have been sent packing his bags, but in India, these things are routine.
Image used for representational purposes only
Image used for representational purposes only
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Another corporate honcho has come out with a golden advise to build the nation. He has urged employees not to stare at their wives on Sundays and come and work at the office. Employees are supposed to work 90 hours a week as per this industry leader, who is reported to rake in an annual salary of around Rs 51 crore in a country with an average income of Rs 1.84 lakh.

It was a few months ago when a much-decorated IT billionaire gave us the advise to work 70 hours a week and a new-age startup wizard, whose company has a valuation of billions but hasn’t raked in a single rupee of profit, advised us why we should shun the western concept of weekends.

In any civilised country, a high-paid CEO making such sexist statements and mocking his employees would have been sent packing his bags, but in India, these things are routine. The said corporate has come up with a shameless defence of this statement.

May be there is some merit in this brilliant statement. Let’s take the case of a 90-hour work week this ‘patriotic nation builder’ suggested to the irresponsible ‘Sunday-wife-staring’ employees of his firm. For argument’s sake, let’s assume that he is kind enough to allow a day’s off despite the concept not rooted in Vedas or Upanishads. So 90 hours in six days is a cool 15 hours of daily grind in the office.

In more civilised times, this was called slavery. Now, in the era of euphemism and jingoism, this is called nation-building. Let’s assume the work starts at 8 am. It will end by 11 pm, if the patriotic CEO is kind enough to allow a lunch break. If he meant 15 hours a day without the lunch and tea break, it will be at least 12 am, when the shift ends. Add an hour of commute each and the employee will have barely six hours left to sleep, eat, bathe and at least glimpse his wife and kids. Sounds perfectly doable, right?

The industrial leaders get away with such nonsensical advise because they know that Indians are desperate for employment. Most are at the verge of starvation and many who have a job are one sickness or retrenchment away from slipping into abject poverty. In a country with a population of over 140 crore and suffering from a decade of chronic unemployment and underemployment, the business leaders are able to get away with such atrocious statements itself tells what is wrong with our country.

Our leaders have miserably failed in generating employment. The youth who can afford to flee have already fled to greener pastures and more civilised places and the others are stuck here only because they have neither the skills nor the means to quit India. Last year, the exodus was a record 2.16 lakh Indians who relinquished Indian citizenship.

The majority of new jobs generated in our country is now in the gig economy. A huge number of youth, who got trained as engineers and management professionals, are now earning their living as call-a-cab taxi drivers and delivery agents. The lucky few who manage to get a regular job in the companies run by such pseudo patriots, work in conditions that would make the pre-emancipation slave owners of the American south blush with shame. Indian trade unions are dead, mostly thanks to their own misdeeds and corruption. Now, the common employee of these blood-sucking corporates have no voice.

Their choice is to sign up for slavery in the office run by psychopathic bosses, who themselves are subject to the same treatment by their superiors, or finding oneself unemployed. There are no jobs to be got for love or murder now. Corporates are firing mid-level employees ruthlessly to maximise profit.

Indian firms, whether they are privately owned or government-run, are heartless institutions that have no concept of work-life balance. What if a few employees die of exhaustion and stress; there are millions desperately waiting outside to sign up for this slavery. Why should the business leader show any compassion when the only motive is profit? Until and unless the labour laws are strictly implemented in every field, including the gig economy, and exploitation is ended, we are bound to hear such advise from the business owners.

To start with, in a country having such a huge population and so much unemployment, the work hours should be restricted to less than six hours with a four-day work week. If a corporate wants more work to be done, they can always hire more people and have staggered shifts. That would solve the employment problem to a great extent and also allow three days to stare at one’s spouse. The only difference is that the CEO or business tycoon will get a lesser bonus or profit. But I am sure their patriotism will inspire them to take that loss with a proud and heart-touching smile. That is another way to build our nation. Jai Hind.

Anand Neelakantan

Author of Asura, Ajaya series, Vanara and Bahubali trilogy

mail@asura.co.in

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