CCTV Commentary: The rest time that workers should enjoy is eroded by invisible overtime

Mondo Workplace Updated on 2024-03-07

In recent years, there has been a lot of attention on the issue of work-life balance among workers. According to the 2022 survey report released by a well-known recruitment platform, as high as 847% of workers are still unable to get rid of the shackles of work after work, and frequently pay attention to work news, resulting in working hours far exceeding the legal standard of 120 hours per month. This data not only reveals the tension between supply and demand in the current talent market, but also highlights the dominant position of employers in labor relations. Even more regrettable, there are 405% of employees silently suffer from overtime, but do not get due compensation.

The two-day rest system has been implemented in China for many years, aiming to protect the rest rights and interests of workers. However, in the real world of the workplace, it is often difficult to implement this system effectively. In order to pursue higher economic benefits and competitiveness, many enterprises continue to compress the rest time of employees, making overtime the norm. The root cause of this phenomenon lies in the imbalance between supply and demand, as well as the endless pursuit of profits by some enterprises.

Experts pointed out that the key to improving this situation lies in strengthening the supervision and enforcement of labor laws and regulations. However, I believe that there is no single reason for this problem. In the field of education, for example, in the past, children relied mainly on school teaching for learning, but now, despite the national promotion of reducing the burden, parents are choosing to enroll their children in various cram schools out of concern for their children's academic progress. This phenomenon also reflects a kind of competitive anxiety and social pressure.

Returning to the workplace leave system, we can find that the reason why many companies have difficulty implementing weekends and statutory rest hours is largely due to the fierce competition in the market and the urgency of orders. Taking a manufacturing enterprise as an example, when faced with strict requirements for delivery time from customers, enterprises often choose to work overtime to ensure the completion of orders. Although this practice may be a violation of labor regulations, companies often choose to take risks because of the relatively low cost of violating the law.

Therefore, in order to truly solve the problem of leave for employees, we need to take a comprehensive approach from multiple levels. It is important to strengthen the implementation of labor laws and regulations, but it is more important to create a fair and reasonable market competition environment to reduce the pressure on enterprises to survive. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the changes in the mentality of society as a whole, guide people to establish correct values and a view of competition, and avoid excessive pursuit of economic interests while ignoring the basic rights and interests of workers.

In short, ensuring the rest time that migrant workers are entitled to is a long-term and arduous task. We need to work on a variety of fronts to gradually improve the workplace environment so that workers can truly enjoy a work-life balance.

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