New Delhi: With more and more states looking to extend daily working hours from eight to 12, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has commissioned an India-specific study to look into its effect on work-life balance of workers.The prescribed working hours of ILO to maintain work-life balance is eight hours daily, totaling 48 hours of work with one day off per week.In April, Tamil Nadu passed the Factories (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill 2023 after inserting in it a clause for ‘flexible working hours’ whereby the weekly 48 hours won’t change but the eight hours per day period could be extended to 12. It later withdrew the Bill after trade unions protested against it.Karnataka also increased working hours from eight to 12. Trade unions have protested against the move, but there has been no signal, as of now, from the government over the rollback of the decision.States including Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are also eyeing similar changes, the Economic Times reported.The Economic Times reported on April 27 that the ILO’s India-specific study on the impact of longer working hours on work-life balance is expected to be out on July-August. “The ILO is of the view that working hours and work-life balance is often neglected while framing labour-related policies, either by the Centre or the states. Hence, it is important to highlight the issue to draw the attention of the government,” a person familiar with the development told ET.In January, the ILO had released a global report on working hours and work-life balance in which it clearly found that South and Southeast Asia clock in the highest working hours. It said India and China have seen a steady increase in the number of annual working hours per worker during 1970-2017, with China clocking in more hours and India being relatively consistent.The recent ET report said the India-specific findings “would be compared to other Southeast Asian countries to assess the work conditions in India while making suitable recommendations to improve the work environment in the country.”The India report would likely review the working hours from different perspectives including overtime and undertime work hours. “It is also expected to analyse actual hours of work compared with workers’ preferred number of hours,” the report added.
