The relation between working hours and skills
For keeping up the skill sets, we just need to keep our body and mind healthy and for ensuring this, sufficient rest is a must
Tawhidul Islam Chanchal
Working hour and skill seem like two different topics, but it is important for us to recognize the link between them. First, lets decide a working definition of working hours which has a variety of definition. For the sake of clarity, and that we are talking about the garment sector, we will use the definition from the Bangladesh Labor Act 2006. It is written that working hour means the time during which the workers employed are at the disposal of the employer excluding any interval allowed for rest and mealswhen an employee works more than their general working hours it is considered as overtime work.
Skill is the ability of a worker to complete a task with minimal waste of time and by giving maximum effort for a predetermined result. Now we know the definitions of the working hour and the skill, lets discuss what instructions are given in Labor law regarding the working hour of a worker. According to Bangladesh Labor Law 2006, No adult worker shall ordinarily work or be required to work in an establishment for more than 8 (eight) hours in a day; provided that subject to the provisions of section 108, any such worker may work in an establishment up to 10 (ten) hours also in a day. Additional work hours have mentioned in section 108 and the essence of this is that a worker cannot work more than 10 hours a day with overtime work. If we look at the code of conduct of the buyers of the European Union, UK and USA, the normal working hour and additional hours are allowed in the maximum 10 hours of work per day. Where it is essential to get workers permission for the overtime work.
However, there are some exceptions in the mentioned topics; the time when the demand/order of the buyers in Bangladeshs garment the industry is higher, a special waiver is being given by the government-appointed authorities, a special waiver to extend the overtime hours till 4 hours means (8+4=12 hours). On the other hand, some buyers also give the factory a chance to articulate and implement a remediation plan to improve the working hours, which is an exception.
If we need to think about an ideal working hour, we have to discuss first the ideal working hour that is recognized in the world. However, all requirements or standards regarding working hours have been formed by considering the balance between work and personal life, for that we can mention a theory raised by Robert Owen (a renowned social reformer) in 1810. Where he had divided 24 hours of a day into 3 parts; 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation and 8 hours for rest or sleep. On the other hand, if we review the history of Great May Day the same claim was made about the working hour. Later this has been recognized worldwide. And according to medical science, standard resting/ sleeping time of an adult human is 7/8 hours in a day.
No one will deny that it is necessary to sleep in a modest amount if we want to keep our body well. On the other hand, if we discuss the stability of skill here also proper sleep is a must, because without sufficient sleep we cant perform at the same pace. Therefore for keeping up the same skill, we just need to keep our body and mind healthy and for ensuring this, sufficient rest is a must.
There are some more things are related to keep the mind healthy i.e; Family, social, social activities, personal, etc. we dont feel good if a family member is sick or if we cannot spend time with other family members.
On the other hand, we feel sorry when we dont get time for some social responsibilities, conventions, some events such as a wedding or birthday party, etc. So everything is about time?
Lets assume, youre a manager of a garment factory, your daily activities are; you wake up at 6 oclock in the morning then get ready for office and you go to the office. You work at the office till 8 or 9 PM and reach home at 10 or 11 PM (Extra travel time because of traffic) and find your children asleep, after taking dinner you go to bed at 1 AM and sleep by 1:30 Am. The next day again if you have to wake up at 6 then you slept only for 4 hours and 30 minutes! Is it enough? Now, when you just sleep for four and a half hours, can it be a cause of physical fatigue on the next day? On the other hand, lack of time creates a distance between you and your family and the society, can be the reason for your depression, isnt it?
Now, if we think about a woman worker, she wakes up at 5 oclock then stands in the line for oven, toilet or bath and finishes those by 7 then starts for office. If she works till 9 PM (if we take the example of 4 hours overtime) then she will reach home at 10! After reaching home she takes a bath and does other household activities till 12! Sleep at 1 oclock! So the next morning, she again wakes at 5 am! In this case, she gets to rest for 4 hours only. When this worker comes to work in your factory, she would be snoozing for the first 1/2 hours, isnt it? If we consider her target for 2 hours is 220 pieces, she will hardly be able to produce 150 pieces in such circumstances. If your expected target for 10 hours is 1100 pcs (note: most of the factories set their plan for 10 hours where there are some exceptions) and if even she somehow manages to achieve the hourly targets of rest 8 hours till she will have to work additional work hours again to fulfill the 70 pieces shortage from the morning. In this case, this extra overtime will bind you to a cycle from while you hardly can get back your control on working hours! Sometimes takes one week and sometimes one month! Remember you I are not working with the machine directly, so if we fall sick, we can do our work anyway! But if a worker, who runs a machine directly, falls sick, then it is inconsequential to get the desired target from her. On the other hand, this worker is not able to give time to her family like us. Maybe her child stays at the village house has come to visit or her parents have come, but she cannot even give them some time! Which has become the cause of her mental dejection? In this case, even her body is good, but the mind will not be in a good state, which will have direct impact on the production. Because all the mentioned things will have a direct impact on his/ her skill or ability.In the same way, the work may face some crucial times with his/her supervisors or immediate boss which will create a distance at the workplace and the performance will go down! And so on again the extra overtimes must.
Now it is our time to think about, how important is the skill is for ensuring a quality product? If very important then we must have control over working hours, neither we will get people to work but not get resources any more.
The writer is a Consultant and HR trainer of a UK based consultancy firm
