L&T chairman S N Subrahmanyan’s comments on working 90 hours a week have reignited the work-life balance debate for Indians who, according to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, are already among the most overworked employees in the world.
The report, released in September last year, is likely the latest data point available on the issue. It pegged Indians working 46.7 hours a week, almost half of Subrahmanyan’s 90-hour-week pitch, made in an employee gathering.
While the 40-50 hour week window is the most common among nations, India ranks second in terms of extended working hours as more than half (51%) put in 49 hours or more during the week, according to the report. This is just behind Bhutan, where this figure is 61%. Globally, Bhutan ranks as the most overworked, where on an average a worker puts in 54.4 hours a week. The United Arab Emirates (50.9 hours) and Lesotho (50.4) are the only other nations in the list where workers exceed the 50-hour mark in a week. Less than 40% of the workforce in these two nations work for more than 49-hours a week.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have figures almost similar to India’s but for the former, the proportion of workers exceeding the 49-hour week is less than India’s at 40%.
Vanuatu, a country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, boasts of minimum working hours (24.7) with just 4% of the workforce exceeding the 49-hour-week mark, as per the report.
Employees in most developed and European countries work for less than 40 hours in a week with a small percentage putting in more than 49 hours, an indication of a better work-like balance in these nations.
In the United States, it is a 38-hour work week while for the United Kingdom, it is 35 hours. In both these countries, less than 15% put in extended working hours.
According to the Factories Act of 1948, the maximum working hours in India is 9 hours daily and 48 hours each week, largely in line with the ILO standards: eight hours a day and 48 hours per week.
However, according to a recent report, many companies, including MNCs, circumvent these laws making staff to stretch up to 14 hours a day without any extra pay. The labour law dictates extra-time be paid at double the rate of the wages.
The work-life issue has been a hot topic of discussion in India ever since Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy pitched for a 70-hour work week in 2023. Amid the debate over work-life balance, India has seen a spate of unfortunate incidents, including the death of an EY employee reportedly due to anxiety over extended working hours. Subrahmanyan’s latest may have just fuelled the fire again.