Dear Seniors,
I strongly recommend a 2-day weekend off (Sat & Sun). However, the organization I work with is a business consulting firm that operates from 9:30 to 6:30, six days a week. We experience a high level of attrition due to the lack of work-life balance. Many employees appear stressed and burnt out. The organization has maintained this schedule since its inception. Seniors, can you please advise me on how to subtly yet effectively convey this to the management and initiate this change within our organization? I am confident that this change will significantly benefit the organization in numerous ways.
Regards,
Shilpa
HR
From India, Delhi
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I strongly recommend a 2-day weekend off (Sat & Sun). However, the organization I work with is a business consulting firm that operates from 9:30 to 6:30, six days a week. We experience a high level of attrition due to the lack of work-life balance. Many employees appear stressed and burnt out. The organization has maintained this schedule since its inception. Seniors, can you please advise me on how to subtly yet effectively convey this to the management and initiate this change within our organization? I am confident that this change will significantly benefit the organization in numerous ways.
Regards,
Shilpa
HR
From India, Delhi
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Dear Shilpa,
We have implemented an alternative Saturday Off policy and increased the daily working time to compensate for that off Saturday. From my personal experience, I would say this is a very good policy. We have reduced our employee leave ratio, stress levels, and also increased employee satisfaction after this. You can inform the management and go for it.
Regards, Kinjal
From India, New Delhi
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We have implemented an alternative Saturday Off policy and increased the daily working time to compensate for that off Saturday. From my personal experience, I would say this is a very good policy. We have reduced our employee leave ratio, stress levels, and also increased employee satisfaction after this. You can inform the management and go for it.
Regards, Kinjal
From India, New Delhi
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Dear Sir,
Instead of 2 days of holidays continuously (SAT & SUN), I suggest, in the interest of stress and strain relief, it would be better to have two holidays on (THU & SUN).
D. Gurumurthy
HR/IR Consultant
From India, Hyderabad
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109Instead of 2 days of holidays continuously (SAT & SUN), I suggest, in the interest of stress and strain relief, it would be better to have two holidays on (THU & SUN).
D. Gurumurthy
HR/IR Consultant
From India, Hyderabad
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Dear Shilpa,
I understand your concern. We should work smart and not just hard. However, we need to understand the hard facts of your company culture also. You have said that "We have a lot of attrition due to the simple fact of no work-life balance. Lot of employees look stressed and fizzled out."
What is the evidence for this conclusion? Have you done an analysis of the exit interviews? How many employees percentage-wise told that they were leaving the company because of the improper work-life balance? Whether to go for a five-day week or a six-day week is an age-old controversy. Finally, it reflects the process of your MD. Mere asking opinions of seniors in forums like these will not help.
Ok...
DVD
From India, Bangalore
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I understand your concern. We should work smart and not just hard. However, we need to understand the hard facts of your company culture also. You have said that "We have a lot of attrition due to the simple fact of no work-life balance. Lot of employees look stressed and fizzled out."
What is the evidence for this conclusion? Have you done an analysis of the exit interviews? How many employees percentage-wise told that they were leaving the company because of the improper work-life balance? Whether to go for a five-day week or a six-day week is an age-old controversy. Finally, it reflects the process of your MD. Mere asking opinions of seniors in forums like these will not help.
Ok...
DVD
From India, Bangalore
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@Kinjal, thanks, but what if we are already working 9 hours a day? Would increasing that be really difficult since it's already from 9:30 to 6:30?
@D. Gurmurthy, thanks for your response. However, having Thursday and Sunday off would defeat the purpose, as employees may want to go out for weekend outings, etc.
@Dinesh Divekar, thank you for your response. Yes, I did an informal survey, which strongly suggests the level of dissatisfaction among employees due to this. In fact, several candidates refuse job offers because of the 6-day workweek. We are in business advisory, and many of our clients are international. Sometimes, they even express surprise when they learn about the working conditions of Indian employees.
From India, Delhi
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@D. Gurmurthy, thanks for your response. However, having Thursday and Sunday off would defeat the purpose, as employees may want to go out for weekend outings, etc.
@Dinesh Divekar, thank you for your response. Yes, I did an informal survey, which strongly suggests the level of dissatisfaction among employees due to this. In fact, several candidates refuse job offers because of the 6-day workweek. We are in business advisory, and many of our clients are international. Sometimes, they even express surprise when they learn about the working conditions of Indian employees.
From India, Delhi
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Shilpa,
You can give 2nd and 4th Saturdays as weekly offs. A weekly off in the middle of the week disturbs the work continuity. Anyways, find out the reason for this stress your people are facing. Just by giving a Saturday off might possibly reduce or be of some help, but it is not the solution to your concern. Conduct activities at work to make the work interesting.
From India, Mumbai
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You can give 2nd and 4th Saturdays as weekly offs. A weekly off in the middle of the week disturbs the work continuity. Anyways, find out the reason for this stress your people are facing. Just by giving a Saturday off might possibly reduce or be of some help, but it is not the solution to your concern. Conduct activities at work to make the work interesting.
From India, Mumbai
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In addition to the useful input by Dinesh, you can also conduct an employee satisfaction survey to confirm the "no work-life balance" issue. Also, if your company is customer-centric, the decision to work or not to work on weekends is directly linked to the readiness to service your clients even on weekends. So, do your analysis first before pushing for a change.
Autumn Jane
From Singapore, Singapore
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Autumn Jane
From Singapore, Singapore
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Dear Shilpa,
Good Morning!
In today's scenario, this is not possible. Even in the Indian Subcontinent where the economy is in a strict struggle condition, we can't have a two-day work off for the sake of work-life balance. Please rethink your argument.
Regards,
Abhay Raj
National Head-HR & Legal
RH Group, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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Good Morning!
In today's scenario, this is not possible. Even in the Indian Subcontinent where the economy is in a strict struggle condition, we can't have a two-day work off for the sake of work-life balance. Please rethink your argument.
Regards,
Abhay Raj
National Head-HR & Legal
RH Group, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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Hi Shilpa,
Firstly, you have to understand the values of your organization. Does your management believe in the value of Human Resources? If yes, do you have the strategies in place?
Secondly, do you have a root-cause analysis of attrition? Sometimes, the issue is different, and the interpretation is different. How many employees left and joined the company where there is a 5-day week? Does it really improve their work-life balance? And if yes, at what cost to the business? Every organization has its own objectives to run the business. I have examples where employees left the organization, which has a 5-day week, and joined a company that has a 6-day week. The reasons can be anything.
In informal feedback, existing employees may say that they are stressed out, and in any organization, this is an issue. But why not work towards better time management and in a smarter way?
Please find enclosed the good article on Time Management that elaborates on these issues. The crux is all the work-life balance issues are related to poor time management.
Regards,
Vinod Bidwaik
From India, Pune
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Firstly, you have to understand the values of your organization. Does your management believe in the value of Human Resources? If yes, do you have the strategies in place?
Secondly, do you have a root-cause analysis of attrition? Sometimes, the issue is different, and the interpretation is different. How many employees left and joined the company where there is a 5-day week? Does it really improve their work-life balance? And if yes, at what cost to the business? Every organization has its own objectives to run the business. I have examples where employees left the organization, which has a 5-day week, and joined a company that has a 6-day week. The reasons can be anything.
In informal feedback, existing employees may say that they are stressed out, and in any organization, this is an issue. But why not work towards better time management and in a smarter way?
Please find enclosed the good article on Time Management that elaborates on these issues. The crux is all the work-life balance issues are related to poor time management.
Regards,
Vinod Bidwaik
From India, Pune
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Hi,
Work-life balance, managing time, and employees under stress are the prevailing issues in today's industry. All employees need to be comfortable with their work - a basic desire of each one. Work distribution, team-building, and work-sharing benefit a lot, and companionship enables the team member to be free for their personal commitments. After all, everyone is earning for the betterment of life. Apart from this, get-togethers and picnics, etc., with families and friends among employees relieve them from stress. We ensure that our employees are entertained and allowed the freedom to participate in welfare ventures organized by our company.
Work-sharing and team participation also require employees to acquire multiple skills so that the organization's work is never hampered. I know this will take time, but employee welfare doesn't mean extra holidays or manipulation of working hours. It is something that organizations provide as an added benefit for retaining their employees, leading to ever-smiling faces while at work.
My advice is - Please be with your employees, spend quality time in understanding their perspectives.
Thanks,
Bijay
From India, Vadodara
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Work-life balance, managing time, and employees under stress are the prevailing issues in today's industry. All employees need to be comfortable with their work - a basic desire of each one. Work distribution, team-building, and work-sharing benefit a lot, and companionship enables the team member to be free for their personal commitments. After all, everyone is earning for the betterment of life. Apart from this, get-togethers and picnics, etc., with families and friends among employees relieve them from stress. We ensure that our employees are entertained and allowed the freedom to participate in welfare ventures organized by our company.
Work-sharing and team participation also require employees to acquire multiple skills so that the organization's work is never hampered. I know this will take time, but employee welfare doesn't mean extra holidays or manipulation of working hours. It is something that organizations provide as an added benefit for retaining their employees, leading to ever-smiling faces while at work.
My advice is - Please be with your employees, spend quality time in understanding their perspectives.
Thanks,
Bijay
From India, Vadodara
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