India Inc. may register a significant drop in productivity during November 2012 as one in five employees plan to take off or reduce working hours during Diwali pre or post celebrations, according to a random survey.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India’s (Assocham) survey on “Productivity Slump During Diwali week” reveals that the impact of the Diwali festivals will hurt the industrial output by 25 per cent because fewer employees are available for work during the Diwali month and the productivity has come down from 8 hours to 4 hours during the festive week.
“The festive season has traditionally been a lean period for industrial production, in almost every year, the IIP growth in Diwali month has been lower than the overall growth for the year,” D S Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham, said while releasing the Assocham survey.
For businesses, this could translate into several thousands of man-hours of lost productivity. As per Assocham’s rough estimates, between 500,000 to 800,000 people will take off during Diwali and result in a productivity loss of about 40 million man hours (half million x 8 hours x 10 days) during November.
The actual level of absenteeism is likely to be even higher due to pre/post celebrations of festivals, reveals the survey. The productivity slump from November is going to continue till mid-November, the survey said.
The survey further indicates that nearly 20 per cent to 35 per cent of employees will take off from work during the festive week in November.
Around 55 per cent of the survey respondents fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26 per cent), 40-49 years (16 per cent), 50-59 years (2 per cent) and 60-69 years (approximately 1 per cent).
Also Read
The survey was conducted in major cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun among others. A little over 200 employee were selected from each city on an average.
The survey was able to target corporate employees from 18 broad sectors, with maximum share contributed by employees from ITTeS and BPO sector (17 per cent).
Employees working in engineering and telecom sector contributed 9 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in the questionnaire. Nearly 6 per cent of the employees belonged from market research/KPO and media background each. Management, FMCG and Infrastructure sector employees share is 5 per cent each, in the total survey. Respondents from power and real estate sector contributed 4 per cent each. Employees from education and food and beverages sector provided a share of 3 per cent each. Advertising, manufacturing and textiles employees offered a share of 2 per cent each in the survey results.
It is found that 60 per cent of the respondents indicated their intention to take at least 7-10 days off from work. Just over half of the respondents said that they intended to work shorter days (nearly 3 hours to 4 hours for work), with the rest indicating that they planned either to request days off using their annual leave, or simply call in sick.
“Workplace productivity in India is expected to drop over the festive seasons, with several festivals like Dhanteras, Bhai Duj, Diwali, Chath and others. Workplace productivity is bound to be affected and employers should be concerned about the issue of employee absenteeism and the resulting productivity loss,” revealed the Assocham survey.
About 86 per cent of the CEOs mentioned that the companies will have a tough time dealing with their employees during such days. Most of the staff, even managers, will be off from work.