The Hindu Business Line : Longer working hours in software sector likely

Voices
“We have done this to standardise the working hours across all our locations in the country.”
“It’s easier to increase working hours during the week rather than work on Saturdays.”

Anjali Prayag

Bangalore, Sept. 4

In what could be the start to a trend, IT software services companies are looking at increasing the number of working hours for employees.

While the companies themselves see this as routine, industry watchers see a significant link between rising work hours and the recent appreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, which has impacted bottomlines. Hexaware Technologies has increased its working hours by 45 minutes every day; thus employees would start clocking an increase of almost four hours per week.

Mr Deependra Chumble, Chief People Officer, Hexaware Technologies, confirmed the change in working hours, but denied that this was to offset the rising rupee impact. “We have done this to standardise the working hours across all our locations in the country.” According to him, Mumbai and Pune were following the eight-hour schedule while Chennai and Delhi clocked eight hours and 45 minutes.

Asked to comment on claims that Polaris Software Labs is increasing work hours, an official spokesperson of the Chennai-based company told Business Line, “We are already working nine hours, between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. wit h a lunch break included, and there’s no question of enforcing it from now.”

Asked if Saturdays as work-days is around the corner, industry watchers feel that increasing work hours during the normal working days is easier.

“It’s easier to increase working hours during the week rather than work on Saturdays because of the additional costs involved such as air-conditioning, and Internet usage,” says Mr Kris Lakshmikanth, Managing Director, Headhunters India, a Bangalore-based recruitment firm.

Talent utilisation at software companies, which stood at around 75 per cent, is likely to go beyond 80 per cent now, he says. It may be recalled that in October last, HCL Technologies had increased the number of working hours for employees from eight and a half to nine hours a day.

At the time, the company said this would help in employee-training as well as get the company up to the industry standard of 45 hours a week. Industry biggie Infosys, at the time, had made no change to its policy of 8 hours and 45 minutes a day with a 20-minute lunch break for employees. Cognizant too continued with its nine-hour work schedule.