Business leaders push over longer hours of working for “development”, “motivation” and “growth”. But it doesn’t seem likely enough to be embraced by the workforce. This is not at all shocking, as people are up for prioritizing their mental health, free from stress and maintaining a work-life balance.

As to what L&T Chairman, SN Subrahmanyan advocated for a 90-hour workweek, wishing that his employees work even on Saturdays and Sundays. Infosys Chairman had given a statement last year, stressing upon a 70-hour workweek. As of very recently, Elon Musk had showered his praise for the DOGE employees who worked for 120 hours. The results are quite contrary when we look it all from an employee’s perspective.

In a recent survey conducted by Venator Search Partners, it has been found that 68% of the employees think longer hours of work are actually ‘demotivating’. A majority 84% prefer 40-50 hour workweek. Only a minimal 2% are in support of a workweek exceeding 50 hours.

As per the survey results, the employees are able to balance their personal and professional commitments well enough if they get a 40-50 hour workweek.

The survey conducted examined workplace stress, productivity, compensation and employees’ general perspectives. The results found that a major 62 percent respondents held unreasonable expectations as the primary reason for the stress. Further, 28% of the respondents felt that a bad boss was responsible for the stress and the remaining 10 percent felt that longer working hours caused them all the stress.

Moreover, it was revealed in the survey that a massive 84% of the employees did not get paid for overtime (OT) work.  

To notably mention, a huge 80% of the employees dislike the established notion of measuring the performance by the number of work hours. They also feel that the companies should rather prioritize the performance metrics relying on ‘outcomes’. They say that the employers should align compensation policies with the actual working hours in order to improve the employee satisfaction.

Employees in the big metropolitan cities of Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, 90% of them, called a 12- hour workday as “impractical”, even pointing out to the added hours of commute that can reach to two-three hours every day. They felt that the employers shall first consider traffic congestions and commuting realities. Deepraditya Datta, Founder of Venator Search partners says, “While the ideal solution remains elusive, companies should strive to adapt to the evolving demands of the modern workforce. Businesses and employees should reflect on what constitutes a healthy, productive environment in today’s corporate landscape.”

A report by Deloitte India published in 2022, stated that the workplace stress costs the Indian economy an estimated $14 billion annually. This reflects upon the urgent need for systematic changes to address the challenges.