Indeed, the eight-hour work week is difficult to effectively implement in some state-owned enterprises, and overtime has become the norm for front-line employees. This mainly involves the following factors:
1. Production pressure and capacity demand: Some state-owned enterprises are facing huge production pressure and capacity demand, and in order to meet market demand or complete production tasks, they have to work overtime to carry out production, resulting in employees working overtime.
2. Internal management problems: Some state-owned enterprises have problems in internal management, such as unreasonable work arrangements, poor processes, and uneven distribution of tasks, resulting in employees needing to work overtime to make up for the lack of work progress.
3. Performance appraisal mechanism: The performance appraisal mechanism of some state-owned enterprises focuses too much on the workload and the speed at which tasks are completed, while ignoring the working hours and quality of life of employees. As a result, employees have to work overtime to meet high standards.
4. Cultural and ethos influence: Some SOEs have a more conservative work culture and ethos, and overtime is seen as a symbol of work attitude and professionalism. This perception makes it difficult for employees to refuse overtime and creates a culture of mandatory overtime.
In response to this problem, SOEs can take the following measures to improve the situation:
1. Improve internal management and processes, arrange work tasks reasonably, and reduce unnecessary overtime.
2. Promote flexible work systems, such as flexible working hours and remote work, to provide employees with more independent choices.
3. Strengthen the supervision and implementation of working hours to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of employees are protected.
4. Establish a sound performance appraisal system, fully consider the working hours and quality of life of employees, and avoid only focusing on workload and speed.
5. Strengthen employee welfare and care, provide improvement of working environment and welfare benefits, and increase employees' sense of belonging and satisfaction.
In short, the eight-hour workday is an important system to protect the rights and interests of workers and maintain work-life balance. SOEs need to step up their efforts to promote reforms, ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of employees are effectively protected, and create a good working environment to achieve sustainable development.