Increasing Your Employees Working Hours! Why

Hi...

Before commenting on your interest to increase your Employees' working hours! please answer the following questions:

1. Why do you need to change your office working hours?
2. Who are deciding upon this change and why?
3. Why have you added 1 hour extra and why not some other figures like 1/2 hour?
4. Is it absolutely necessary to stick to fixed working hours? (Overtime payment)
5. What are the tangible benefits of the change?

If you can answer the above then you will be able to convince and decide your employees the issue.

It is a practice weekly 2 days off (i.e. Sat and Sun) followed by western countries, and most of the Indian IT companies who work for them have adopted this practice.

There is no such law for keeping two days off. But it is a practice followed by companies, since the concept came from the west. Moreover, most of the foreign clients are off on the 2 weekend days and hence the practice.

However, depending on the work, people do go to office.

• I believe 9am - 6pm is a shift of 9 hrs per day....
  So 5 * 9 = 45 hrs....
  Remove 1 hrs for lunch for each day..
  Total = 40 hrs weekly...
  40 * 4 Weeks = 160 hrs
  160 * 12 Months = 1920 hrs Yearly
  
  If Company operates on Saturdays to...
  Total = 48 hrs weekly....
  48 * 4 Weeks = 192 hrs
  192 * 12 Months = 2304 hrs Yearly

Hence we can say that IT Company's try to give back

2304 hrs - 1920 hrs = 384 hrs Yearly to its employees...
This can be considered as a bonus for good jobs.

In all Software Companies no one will work on Saturday but if you have anything to be finished you can work.

According to me Saturday should be off compulsory. Then only the employees can relax with their family and do their work perfectly.

Working hours, breaks , day off

• Working hours must, in principle, not exceed 40 hours per week or eight hours per day excluding breaks (this is known as "statutory working hours"). However, some businesses are permitted to have their employees work up to 44 hours per week at a maximum of eight hours per day. These businesses include retail and beauty services, cinemas and theaters, businesses related to health and hygiene, as well as restaurants and entertainment businesses with less than 10 regular employees.
• In the event that an employee works six hours, the employer must give that employee not less than a 45 minute break; this increases to a one hour break where working hours exceed eight hours.
• Employers must grant employees at least one day off per week, or four days off in any four-week period (this is known as "statutory days off"). Sundays or public holidays need not necessarily be days off, and other days may be selected as employees' days off instead by agreement between the employer and employees.
  

Agreement on Overtime and work on day Off

• Any employer that requires workers to work in excess of statutory working hours or on statutory days off must submit a Notification of Agreement on Overtime and Work on Days off to its local Labor Standards Inspection Office.

Overtime Payment

• Companies must pay an increased rate of wages as set forth in the table below to employees who work in excess of statutory working hours, work on statutory days off or work late at night (between 22:00 and 05:00).

	Rate of increase
Work in excess of statutory working hours	25%
Work on statutory days off	35%
Work late at night	25%
Work late at night in excess of statutory working hours	50%
Work late at night on statutory days off	60%

Exceptions for managers and supervisors

• Persons in positions of management or supervision and persons handling confidential administrative work who are closely involved in management are not subject to the regulations on working hours, breaks and days off (with the exception of regulations on night work).

Modified working hour system

• Some jobs entail large peaks and troughs in the number of working hours according to the year, month or week. In some of these cases, companies are allowed to adopt a system of calculating working hours whereby the company need not pay increased rates in certain weeks or on certain days even where employees work in excess of statutory working hours, provided that the employees involved work no more than the statutory number of working hours on average within a predetermined period. In this case, however, a labor-management agreement must be entered into or appropriate provisions included in work rules before a flexible system can be adopted.

System of annual modified working hours

• Employees' working hours must not exceed 40 hours on average per week for a specified period of more than one month but not more than one year. If a company adopts this system, even workers whose statutory working hours are 44 hours per week, under the exemptions detailed in 4.5.1. 1), are subject to the aforementioned 40-hour average.
  

System of monthly modified working hours

• Provided that provisions are drawn up prohibiting employees' working hours from exceeding 40 hours(*) on average per week for a specified period of not more than one month, the employer may have employees work in excess of 40 hours in a specified week or in excess of eight hours on a specified day.
  

Flextime system

• Another system under which working hours can be adjusted within a monthly period is the flextime system. Under this, the total number of working hours that a worker must work during a fixed period of not more than one month is established, and workers are free within limits to determine what time they start and stop work each day provided that they meet the total number of working hours required.
  

Week-based modified working hours

• Under this system, employers may have employees work for more than eight hours but not more than 10 hours per day without having to pay increased rates of wages, provided that employees' working hours do not exceed 40 hours per week It should be noted, however, that this system is limited to retailers, inns and restaurants with less than 30 regular employees. Furthermore, if a company adopts the system, even workers whose statutory working hours are 44 hours per week,under the exemptions detailed in 4.5.1. 1), are subject to the aforementioned 40-hour average. Under this system, the working hours of workers whose statutory working hours are 44 hours per week under the exemptions detailed in 4.5.1.1) shall remain 44 hours.

Paid leave

• Employers must grant 10 days' paid leave to employees that worked for six consecutive months from the time of hiring and who worked on not less than 80 per cent of all schedule work days. This paid leave may be taken consecutively or separately. Where an employee's application to take paid leave will hinder the normal business operations, the employer may require the employee to take such paid leave at a different time. The number of days of paid leave available to employees increases in proportion to employees' length of service as set forth in the following table.

Years of service	0.5	1.5	2.5	3.5	4.5	5.5	6.5
Leave days granted	10	11	12	14	16	18	20

• The right to annual paid leave expires after two years. In other words, annual paid leave left over from one year may be carried over and taken the next year only. For instance, if an employee is awarded 10 days' paid leave in 2004, but opts not to take paid leave in that year, the employee may carry those days over to 2005 and use them in addition to any leave days which become available in 2005. However, those 10 days awarded to the employee in 2004 cannot be carried over to 2006 or beyond. It should also be noted that employees that have been continuously employed at the same company for not less than seven years and six months can take a maximum of 40 days' paid leave in any one year, including days that became available within that year and those carried over from the previous year.

• Employers are not required to grant paid leave days in addition to those described above to cover days on which employees did not work as a result of any non-work-related illness or injury. It should also be noted that most Japanese companies grant a few additional paid leave to employees for marriage, death of close relatives, and childbirth by the employee's spouse, etc.

Maternity, childcare and family care leave

Maternity leave

• If an employee of expectant mother requests permission for leave of absence six weeks prior to the expected date of delivery (14 weeks in the case of multiple pregnancies), the employer must approve the request. Furthermore, employers are, in principle, prohibited to cause any female employee to work for a period of eight weeks commencing from the day following that on which the employee gave birth.
  

Childcare leave

• If an employee with a child aged less than one-year-old requests permission for a leave of absence (by the child's first birthday in principle, or up to the age of 18 months if certain conditions are met), the employer must approve the request. Employers may deem employees who have worked at the company for less than one year and employees with a spouse who is able to take full-time care of the child to be ineligible for childcare leave, provided, however, that the employer does so by stipulating to that effect in a labor-management agreement.

Family care leave

• If an employee with a family member who has been judged to require a certain level of nursing care requests permission for a leave of absence to provide such nursing care (up to a maximum of 93 days in total per that family member), the employer must approve such a request once only for each occasion that a family member falls into a condition requiring full-time nursing care. Employers may deem employees who have worked at the company for less than one year and those whose employment will terminate within three months ineligible for family care leave, provided, however, that the employer does so by stipulating to that effect in a labor-management agreement.

Leave of absence to nurse a child

• A worker with a child of preschool age may take a leave of absence of up to five days per year to nurse a sick or injured child. The above periods of leave may be unpaid.