Considering a 5-Day Workweek: How Would It Impact Our Small Firm's Productivity and Employee Satisfaction?

Hi all,

I would like to know the criteria to work for 5 days a week. We are a small firm with 70 employees, headquartered in the US. We undertake mostly US work, also domestic at times (and our domestic clients work on Saturdays). We work 9 hours a day, 4 hours on Saturday, totaling 49 hours a week (while during heavy work, employees work until evening without OT).

- We have US clients and a few domestic clients.
- Saturdays are usually not very productive, as most of them are in weekend moods and do very little.
- There are attrition signals after appraisals; this announcement would help retain them to an extent.
- Most of the time, employees work on Indian holidays and are not very happy about it.
- I am trying to understand if we announce a 5-day week, while we have domestic clients work on Saturday, we end up paying OTs/comp offs. The analysis shows that we have a huge domestic workload this year.

Request all of you to please tell me the advantages and disadvantages associated with it...

That's not a good idea. If you want to change, then you should change across the board for all the employees.

Dear Sari,

As per law, the working hours are 48 hours in a week. So, you can formulate the working hours as follows: 0900 hrs-1330 hrs, from 1330 hrs-1400 hrs lunch break, then from 1400 hrs-1830 hrs, followed by 1830 hrs-1845 hrs tea break, and again from 1845 hrs-1945 hrs.

To maintain 5 days in a week, an employee has to work for 9 and a half hours/day (5 days) excluding the lunch break. An employee cannot be asked to work more than 5 hours at a stretch. Therefore, two breaks definitely help them and also refresh them.

Thanks,
Pranab
pranab.kumar@spadeworx.com

Where is your location? If it is in Ahmedabad, please do let me know if there is an opening. I am a graduate in English, currently pursuing a Diploma in HR, and have been working with an NGO for the last 8 years.

Regards, Swapna

Hi Hanuma,

If most people working in your company are youth, then a 5-day week will surely work, as most of today's youth are busy on weekends. I suggest increasing working hours by around 1 to 1.5 hours over these 5 days so that you will not fall behind deadlines.

Normally, we only have a single day off, i.e., Sunday. A 2-day break will provide you with a chance to recharge your batteries so that you stay mentally and physically alert in the upcoming week.

To the best of my knowledge, that's what I can say.

Hanuma

Hi Sari,

You want a suggestion from me too!!! I am a little conservative!!

BPOs and call centers had been thinking all the time that they have nothing to do with manufacturing. But when I read some of these issues highlighted by members, they are akin to many issues in manufacturing. If you look at some of the practices in manufacturing alone, you will get lots of ideas.

Shifts, overlapping shifts, Comp off, OT, Rotating weekly off, and many more practices can be learned.

You say you need to service more Indian clients and you want to close Saturday and make people work on OT on that day.

Basically, you need to look at your business ratio. What % is coming from the US and how much from India? If Indian business is negligible or say 30%, then you can do what you said. But if Indian business is going to be say 70%, you cannot plan OT. People will still say that they are not interested in coming on Saturday.

Ashok Leyland followed a method a long time back - giving one day's extra salary for all those who are coming on Saturday. No OT.

Overtime implies double wages.

Think out of the box.

Attrition may not be due to Saturday work. If you declare Saturday off and ask people to come on OT, there will still be attrition.

Today's attrition is more due to market conditions.

Siva

Hi dear,

Can I also put some comments 🙄:

If a five-day week is not working out, you can even opt for the 2nd and last Saturday off. What say you? At least something is better than nothing. 😂

Regards,
Sindhu

Thank you, Hanuma, that sounds cool.

Thank you so much, Siva, for a clear picture. The problem here is one department is completely US-based, serving only US clients and day-to-day projects. Therefore, they have to work on Indian holidays (all) and remain on the bench during US holidays (the next day). They are paid overtime (OT) and other allowances (TLS, PLS). Project managers (PMs) are given compensatory offs, which are only accumulating. In fact, they are willing to work without OT by declaring Saturdays off, as most of them are freshers pursuing higher studies through distance learning, which would give them time to study.

However, the other department refuses to work for six days because most of their salaries are the same. They are never on the bench due to Indian clients and work full days on Saturdays, whereas usually it is a half day.

I am trying to come up with a general conclusion to satisfy both parties. Any suggestions? :)

Follow the Ashok Leyland Method. Salary is fixed for 22 days. People coming on Saturdays will get that extra. But they had major problems at a later stage and discontinued. Initially, it does work.

Siva

Thanks, Siva.

If I announce to work two Saturdays full day and two Saturdays off, say the second and fourth Saturday. The department who is working full days will feel acknowledged and the one requesting Saturday off will be satisfied to an extent, and you will not end up paying OTs/comp offs. What say? :)

Well, it seems like a reasonable proposal. Announce temporary implementation. You can review cost-benefit and employee satisfaction surveys after one year and review.

Siva

Dear,

Time demands customer satisfaction, and the service industry has to take care. Similarly, we have to take care of our internal customers (employees).

What I suggest is that you can declare a 5-day workweek, but the arrangement can involve keeping the office operational with half the members of each department present. This way, everyone can enjoy two Saturdays off in a month.

However, it should be noted that if anyone needs to be present due to work demands, this arrangement is not negotiable or a matter of right.

Regards,
Usha Yagnik

Hi Poonam,

I suggest considering flexible timings on Saturdays to accommodate everyone's preferences. This way, individuals who wish to leave early can start their day sooner, while those who need extra rest can come in later.

Thank you.

Hi Sari,

This is AJ. Thanks for your reply. What I am going to suggest requires a lot of homework.

Taking into account that you have employee separation for Overseas and Indian clients.

Now for Overseas clients, there is no point in having Saturday as a working day, and hence you can leave those guys as it is.

And for Indian clients, you can either provide the option to employees working on Saturday to choose their day off during the week or offer additional leaves for the year.

Another option is classifying the employees into two sections and rotating them each month for a Mon-Fri day off and a Sat day off.

I completely agree with you that to reduce the attrition rate, it's better to have a 5-day workweek, which is also better for the morale of the employees. Also, be aware that it's an irreversible change, so you might need to put a lot of thought into it before implementing.

But it definitely is a very welcome move towards employee satisfaction. To further control the attrition rate, consider conducting an anonymous employee survey online; that might help too.

Thanks & Regards,

AJ

I suggest you don't go for a 5-day week as your domestic clients are working on Saturday. Instead, you can provide them with overtime for that. Another option is to adopt the policy of having the 2nd and 4th Saturday off.

Best regards,
Ranju Thareja
HR Executive
Voyants Solutions Pvt. Ltd

Hi Sari,

I feel that you should let your employees have a break on Saturday and Sunday because working more than 9 hours a day without any breaks is not a good idea.

Hey Sari,

I am still very much against the overtime concept from the employer's point of view. You might want to think about a better bonus for more working hours put in with efficiency. Also, an online log of the number of hours put in by each employee. Each month, the person who has given the maximum hours of work can have a vacation or an extra day off. Never ever think of overtime because along with it come legal bindings. I am sure you are innovative enough to think about better benefit packages.

Since your target is to lower the attrition rate, group activities won't be a bad idea. Let the employees feel they are part of a family, and it will be difficult for them to leave the organization. However, this will work only with the BPO & IT sector.

Thanks & Regards,
AJ