Indians work some of the longest hours per week worldwide. It is therefore not surprising that Indian employees also report high levels of burnout. Yet our productivity is among the lowest in the world, even though digital connectivity has increased working hours.
While Infosys founder Narayana Murthy insists that Indians should work more than 70 hours a week (labor laws limit it to 48 hours) for “nation building,” Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule introduced the Right to Disconnect Bill 2025 in the winter session of Parliament, which seeks to allow employees to decline work calls or messages outside scheduled working hours.
Since the bill was introduced by an opposition MP, it may not have the votes needed to pass, but it certainly focused on worker health. Mint examines what various surveys and reports show about work-life balance in India.
Long working hours, low productivity
Indians worked an average of more than 45 hours per week in 2024, the ninth highest in the world, according to the International Labor Organization. But in terms of productivity, India delivered an output of $10.8 per hour, one of the lowest globally and the second lowest among emerging economies.
The problem is rooted in outdated skills, widespread informality, unequal job opportunities outside big cities and health problems caused by exploitative work cultures – factors that together impair cognitive performance and motivation.
Data from the ILO shows that advanced economies tend to achieve higher productivity while working fewer hours per week. Take Switzerland for example. The average work week there is about 35.2 hours, the fourth lowest in the world, but yields nearly $86 an hour – the most in the world.
Limited access to decent work
India’s score on the Global Labor Rights Index in 2024 was 65 out of 100, falling under the “limited access to decent work” category. The score has not changed since 2022 and is two points lower since 2020.
Weak job protection often means unstable jobs, unpredictable working hours, limited safety nets and little bargaining power – all of which exacerbate burnout and reduce long-term productivity.
A further breakdown of the scores across various parameters on a scale of 100 shows that India lags significantly in fair treatment with a score of 20, followed by freedom of association, job security and family responsibilities. The Labor Rights Index is part of a biennial report jointly published by the WageIndicator Foundation and the Center for Labor Research that assesses labor law around the world.
High burnout rate
For many Indians, especially those in formal jobs, burnout has quietly become a normal part of working life. A 2023 McKinsey Health Institute report showed that 59% of Indian workers were burned out, the highest among the 30 countries surveyed.
Symptoms paint an even more troubling picture: 67% say their thinking is clouded, 62% feel exhausted, 59% wake up not wanting to work, and 58% feel emotionally overwhelmed. And yet almost half of these workers continue to perform at a high level, even as the increasing pressure continues to drain them, the report says.
The right to disconnect: will it help?
Technological innovation and digital integration have further skewed the work-life balance. While there is merit in the call for Indians to work harder, it can also be achieved by prioritizing productivity over hours worked or after-hours availability. While workers in many low- and middle-income economies work long hours with low productivity, laws mandating the right to disconnect are limited to a handful of high-income countries.
Moreover, only a small portion of the formal workforce, especially in the professional services sector, is likely to benefit from such a law in India. India may need broader laws to ensure workers are not stuck in long, unproductive working hours.
