The proposal by the information technology (IT) sector to raise the working hours of IT and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) employees to more than 12 hours per day will "legalize exploitation" in the field, said Bengaluru IT workers.
Many IT workers are frequently required to work overtime to meet deadlines and complete projects. "We occasionally have to work on weekends and are not rewarded for the extra hours. So if the government raises working hours to 12 or 14 hours a day, it means the actual time we might have to put in at work will be more than the said hour,” said Komal, an IT employee of Accenture of Bengaluru.
The Karnataka Labour Department, led by Labour Minister Santhosh Lad, convened a meeting on July 19 to propose a change to the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act.
The proposed change states: "An employee working in the IT/ITeS/BPO sector may be required or allowed to work for more than 12 hours in a day and not exceeding 125 [extra] hours in three continuous months."
The existing Act only provides for a maximum of 10 hours of work per day, including overtime.
IT staff and labor groups have expressed strong opposition to the proposal, claiming that it will have a negative impact on work-life balance and employee health.
“I have worked on projects that required me to be online 24x7. We were not able to disconnect from work even after our working hours were over. Whenever we were asked to, we had to come online, no matter what time of the day or night it was,” said Komal.
She continued that all of this has triggered major stress and anxiety-related issues, including eating disorders, insomnia, and migraines. The current proposal would only “legalize such exploitation.”
“My eyesight was perfect before joining work. But a couple of years of working and constantly straining my eyes in front of a computer screen have hampered my eyesight as well,” she added.
Ravikumar, a Microsoft employee, inquired whether the government and company management would consider the trip to and from the office when calculating total working hours per day.
"Everyone knows about the terrible Bengaluru traffic. We spend at least two hours getting to and from work. So, in addition to the increased 12 to 14 hours, we'll have to spend a few hours driving. So, in short, we will only have about eight hours for recreation, sleep, and everything else that helps us live a balanced life," Ravi said.
During their discussion with the Labour Department, the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) expressed strong opposition to the move, citing research that shows the negative health effects of prolonged working hours.
They highlighted a Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) survey that revealed that 45% of IT employees working long hours have mental health difficulties such as depression, while 55% have physical health concerns.
"The Karnataka government, in their hunger to please their corporate bosses, completely neglects the most fundamental right of any individual—the right to live. This amendment shows that the government of Karnataka is not ready to consider workers as human beings who need personal and social lives to survive. Instead, it considers them as only machinery intended to increase the profit of the corporations that it serves,” said Suhas Adiga, the General Secretary of KITU.
However, the BJP criticized the Karnataka government's proposed IT and ITES policies. The state BJP President, B. Vijayendra, said that the issue must be discussed and that the CM cannot make decisions unilaterally.
"My suggestion to the CM is that Bengaluru is a global IT hub, and whatever decisions are made, every stakeholder should be taken into account. The CM cannot make decisions unilaterally," he said.
Karnataka Labour Minister Santhosh Lad claimed that the government is under pressure from the IT industry to pass new legislation allowing for more hours of work for technicians, but that the issue is being reviewed.
“The bill has come to us because of pressure from the IT industries; it is not the IT Minister [Priyank Kharge] himself who has come up with this idea. Industrialists are pressuring us for this. Since the pressure is from the industry, the bill has come to us, and we are still evaluating it from the labor department’s perspective,” Lad said.
“Now, the question is, I want all industrial heads to discuss it as the issue is in the public domain. People are free to express their opinions. I want all the major stakeholders to debate this. Since the matter has come to the public, there is dissent among IT employees," he added.
