Late Shift Dilemma: Should We Offer Meals to Employees Working Beyond 6 PM?

Employees working in the general shift from 9 am to 6 pm, extending their work until 9 pm, can we provide them with food? I need a policy for this.

Dear Rajini Akula,

Providing food during extended working hours is a good welfare measure. After working late, it becomes difficult for bachelors to cook food upon reaching home.

Risks of Providing Food During Extended Hours

However, the welfare scheme also comes with attendant risks. Once the trend of providing food during extended stays is established, what if a few smart bachelors or even spinsters stretch their working hours for the sake of food? If the scheme of providing food in the late hours is started, then what about transportation facilities for women during the night hours? The demands will keep on growing.

Asking for a policy on a public forum is okay, but weigh the consequences before introducing it.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

It's a welcome measure. It's a legal welfare measure to maintain the 'canteen' facility during a shift or at pre-fixed timings for providing tea/coffee, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This will apply during the 2nd/B shift and 3rd/C shift as well. However, what and when to provide should be finalized at a bipartite meeting with the union(s). Such measures should apply to overtime or extended timings as well.

Can anyone please suggest how to prepare a snack policy for employees when they stay back?

I would recommend that you encourage your employees to report to work on time and leave at the close of working hours. Thirty to forty-five minutes stretching beyond the close of working hours occasionally is okay. Please note that we need to consider the time required for the employee to commute back home from the office.

If the trend of extended working hours continues, employees will complain about work-life balance.

Considering one hour of commuting and eight hours of work, on average, an employee spends 40% of their day at work. If the working hours themselves are stretched on a regular basis beyond eight hours, their working efficiency will be affected.

I know of an organization wherein the company curbed late sitting by simply switching off the electricity for 15 minutes in the office area, 10 minutes after the close of the working hours. Employees had to move out and resume work after the power was restored 30 minutes later, without air conditioning facilities. Though there was initial resistance, employees started feeling comfortable with this move and cooperated wholeheartedly as they could spend quality time with their families.

Regards,
MVK