The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has debunked the notion that long working hours correlate with higher productivity. Anoop Satpathy, wage specialist at ILO India, stated that consistently working excessively long hours actually reduces hourly productivity due to increased fatigue. The ILO confirms that no national law in any country mandates a 70-hour work-week. Instead, developed nations are adopting the ILO’s latest convention, which establishes a 40-hour work-week to replace the previously ratified 48-hour work convention. This debate on work hours was sparked by comments from NR Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, advocating for Indian youth to work 70 hours per week.
Anoop Satpathy affirmed that India was among the first countries to ratify ILO Convention 1 in 1921, which limited working hours to eight in a day and 48 in a week for individuals in public and private industrial undertakings. He explained that currently, most Indian labour regulations have provisions restricting working hours to eight per day and 48 per week. Satpathy noted that 15 countries, including a few European and Central Asian nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Korea, have ratified the ILO Forty-Hour Week Convention of 1935. This convention further reduces the work-week to 40 hours without compromising the standard of living.
Satpathy emphasized that national labour laws on working time have generally aligned with international standards, making the 40-hour work-week the most common national standard for normal weekly hours of work in the developed world. However, the 48-hour work-week remains prevalent in developing countries. He acknowledges that although a 70-hour work-week is not mandated by any national law in any country, there may be certain sectors or occupations where it is practiced, which could be attributed to compliance issues.
The ILO’s report on working time and the future of work, published in 2018, supports the notion that the idea of long working hours leading to increased productivity is a myth. In fact, the report concludes that consistently working excessive hours results in reduced hourly productivity, increased fatigue, lower job satisfaction and motivation, and higher rates of absenteeism and staff turnover.
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