France’s latest work law has generated much excitement in the corporate world. Pooja Patel speaks to a few people in India to know their views
France, known for its strict pro-employee policies, has passed a law encouraging employees to avoid work-related emails and calls after office hours. Passed in response to claims that constantly remaining on the phone for work after office hours leads to burnout and affects relationships, the new law gives employees the 'right to disconnect' from work. Would such a policy work in India?
I think India is not ready as we have a different kind of work culture. During work hours, employees take an hour's lunch break and indulge in small talk and socialise, this is more our culture. Eventually, we do finish our work, but it just takes a bit longer. India doesn't even feature in the global survey by Business Insider to find the most productive nations (based on number of work hours by employees). Since the productivity of the population is a determining factor of any country's GDP, this survey to some extent highlights that India's workforce is not adding much value to our GDP. So, if we do implement such a law, it may hurt our GDP to some extent. I feel that given the start-up scenario in India, we cannot look at defined work hours. Organisations do come up with different benefits for work-life balance. But we have a long way to go before we can have strict laws only based on work hours.
— Prerak Shah, Ahmedabad,
Manager HR, with a textile company
I feel such a law should be passed in India too, as it will improve the personal lives of people. This is mostly because employees, in a lot of sectors, don't follow a strict work routine, therefore there isn't much time left for family. Plus, if an employee works for a sector where it is necessary to be available on call post work hours, it further cuts into family time. Such a law would enable an employee to maintain better work-life balance. I feel implementing this would be difficult for the IT sector as there's a need to interact with clients overseas; finding a solution around different time zones can be tricky.
— Dhwni Patel, Bengaluru,
Senior Consultant with an IT company
When it comes to businesses, it wholly depends on the kind of market one is catering to. For example, if I am working for a US-based market, I would have to work as per the US time zones, and would have to start my work after 6 pm. Even for markets in faraway Asian countries, there will be at least a two-hour time difference. In the diamond business, where exhibitions happen quite frequently around the world, there may be potential clients who may have queries regarding products. In such a scenario, there has to be a back office in India, which can provide all the details. I feel that this may work only in the organised corporate sector, not in unorganised business sector.
— Pravin Dey, Mumbai,
Proprietor of a diamond jewellery manufacturing company
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