Bengaluru IT industry seeks 14-hour workdays; Employee union objects: Report

IT companies in Bengaluru are asking the state government to extend the maximum daily working hours for employees to 14 hours. The state is considering updating the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act of 1961 to accommodate this request, as reported by Business Today.

This move echoes a controversial suggestion made a year ago by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, who proposed that young professionals should work up to 70 hours a week. His comments sparked significant debate at the time.

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Now, these IT firms are formally requesting that the proposed changes to the law include the option for employees to work up to 14 hours a day, which would consist of 12 hours of regular work and an additional 2 hours of overtime.

Currently, labor regulations permit up to 12 hours of work per day, including 10 hours of regular work and 2 hours of overtime. The new proposal would allow IT and BPO companies to extend daily working hours beyond 12, up to a total of 125 hours within a three-month span.

The Siddaramaiah-led state government has begun initial discussions on the proposal and will make further decisions in the near future, the report said.

However, the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) opposes the plan. They warn that extending working hours might lead companies to switch from a three-shift system to a two-shift system, which could result in job losses for about one-third of the workforce.

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The union also emphasizes that longer working hours could have harmful effects on the health of IT workers. They argue that the proposed changes reflect a view of employees as mere machines rather than individuals, and they are calling on the government to reconsider the proposal.

"As per the report of KCCI, 45% of employees in the IT sector are facing mental health issues such as depression, and 55% facing physical health impacts. Increasing working hours will further aggravate this situation," a statement by the union said, as accessed by the publication.

"This amendment shows that the government of Karnataka is not ready to consider workers as human beings who need personal and social life to survive. Instead, it considers them as only a machinery to increase the profit of the corporates whom it serves,” it added.