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We need attention of the Indian government!

Over the years with the bloom of IT in India or as a large provider of IT services to the world, the well-being of the IT/BPO professional are depressed. Here are some of the points from the Factory Law of 1948.

51. WEEKLY HOURS. - No adult workers shall be required or allowed to work in a factory for more than forty-eight hours in any week.

54. DAILY HOURS. - Subject to the provisions of section 51, no adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in a factory for more than nine hours in any day

It does mention that the 48 hours can be spread over as 6 days where as 5 days is the norm that IT/BPO companies hold. The Companies take this in to account and spread 48 hours though 5 days, allowing for a maximum of 9.6 hours daily with 1 hour of break included in the 9.6 hours. But then again they can't force more than 9 hours per day. With the amount of stress that undergo in software companies with the software professionals, we should strive for the international standard of 8 hours per day with 1 hour break.

It is high time that we establish a labour law for the employees in the IT/BPO and BPO sector. Comparing the scenario with the international audience, most of the companies go for a standard of 8 hours a day with 1 hour break. Please also note that a majority of these individual belonging to this category get a paid leave from 4 weeks to 6 weeks on an average with other benefits of sick leave, maternity as well as paternity leaves, and leave on personal reason (on certain occasions).

Basically the scenarios of Work timings follow the suite of available workforce in the country to manage the work. As far as India is concerned the unemployment of the highly talented is increasing due to the enormous growth of talent in the country. So the excuse of unavailability of talented workforce won't suffice with the IT company arguments. Lesser work timings and more employment is the apt resolution to India's woes. Besides a lot of major Indian companies have a state commonly termed as "On Bench", a term used to refer to employees of a company not currently working but on payroll. This inability of proper resource management is having a toll on the workforce of the company with extended work hours.

Moreover also consider the scenarios in which a daily task is assigned to an employee, one which is not possible by his calibre to finish in the hours allotted to him. If the employee is not able to finish his work on time and takes up extra work hours per day, this should be attributed to overtime payment. I would assert this as it is the responsibility of the company to select an employee to the position or more generally the recruitment process of an employee, is up to the company or the employer and hence the responsibility of the company to find the talent with the required calibre to do the work.

Families, friends and social life are something which is getting lost in India. The 35 hour work week implemented in France with the intent on balancing family and work is a great initiative.

With lot of countries thinking of implementing shorter work times
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or even the advantages (with better productivity) of the 4 day week, its also tried and tested
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or even social heads coming up with the future with 21 work week
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it all seems to be a revolution in the making.

With the IT-BPO union in India fighting for our cause
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Its also embarrassing with India being one of the founder of the International Labour organisation(*this community does not allow links, please go to facebook, search for "IT/BPO Voice of India")


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