ILO analysing work conditions in India, report expected by Jul-Aug: Report

This comes at a time when some states in the country have raised work hours from eight to 12 per day

The Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) is reviewing work hours in India and will soon come up with a country-specific report on work schedules and their impact on the work-life balance, a report by The Economic Times (ET) said.

The report is expected to be released in July or August this year.

This comes when several states in the country, including, have raised work hours from eight to 12 per day. The Code of Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH&WC) introduced by the labour ministry in 2020 also proposed extending the daily work hours to 12 from eight currently. However, this would enable employees to work four days a week, lower than five days currently.

The ILO convention, on the other hand, prescribes eight hours of work per day for six days a week, with a cap of 48 hours per week.

A person familiar with the matter was quoted in the ET report as saying that the ILO believes work-life balance is often neglected while framing labour laws and policies, and it is important to highlight the issue with the governments.

The India-centric report will compare the findings with other south-east Asian countries. It would also give some recommendations on how the working conditions can be improved here. The report will also compare the actual hours of work and the workers' preferred number of hours.

In January, ILO released a report on work hours highlighting that one-third of all workers regularly worked more than 48 hours a week. It also showed that one-fifth of the workforce worked less than 35 hours per week.

It added that longer work hours have a negative impact on workers' work-life balance.