Work-Life Balance: For A Privileged Few? 

Two news items caught my eye even though they were buried in the inside pages of the morning dailies. Both were employee-friendly items that focused on fostering work-life balance. 

The first one was the right to disconnect from the workplace after official working hours. The second was the new labour code which gave employees the option to work a four-day week  -- so long as they worked 48 hours a week. 

Let’s examine both the issues, one by one to ascertain whether such policies are practical for a fast-rising economy like ours. 

On December 5, 2025, Supriya Sule, MP from the NCP (SP) introduced the Right to Disconnect Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha as a private member’s bill. This was her second attempt in the last seven years and as expected it didn’t pass muster.  

If and when this bill is passed, then it will legally give employees the right to disengage from work related communications –- phone calls, emails or messages -- once they have punched out for the day. They wouldn’t have to fear losing out on promotions or raises, or being side-lined.

But, can it work in India?

Let’s look at the West. The right to disconnect policy has been introduced in some European countries. In France, the first one to adopt it in 2017, it is mandatory for companies having 50-plus employees on their payroll to limit after-hours digital contact. More countries followed: Belgium (2018) for public sector companies then private sector in 2023; Portugal (2021), Spain (2021), Canada, Mexico, Colombia and Australia (2024). The upshot  of this policy is that employees’ rest period must be respected.

All Western countries talk about work-life balance, but if you look closely, out of 195 countries in the world, just a dozen countries - mostly European -- have implemented a ‘right to disconnect’ policy. To my mind, countries like Japan, Germany, USA, China or South Korea would not have had thriving economies if such a law had been implemented during their high-growth years. Now that they are developed economies, they can afford to focus on work-life balance.  

‘Right to disconnect’ is doable in the case of the standard desk job. But doctors, nurses, emergency responders are governed by separate standards that balance service needs with worker protections.  

In the competitive IT sector which is working across different time zones, IT professionals have to be available for client interactions as per clients’ time zone – that’s part of their job profile.

Sure, some study in the West says that the right to disconnect can cut burnout, improve productivity and also boost mental health. 

Be that as it may. But is a growing economy like India ready for it? Not at this juncture, but some broad guidelines (dos and don’ts) can be worked out to incentivise the employees and sensitise the management.

Now let me turn to the other issue -- working hours. On November 21, 2025, the government brought into effect four new labour codes which are indeed transformational. The good news is that the unorganised sector has been brought into the social security net.  What surprised me was the new code that allows workers the flexibility of working a four-day week -- provided they work 12-hour days, or 48 hours a week. This may be music to the ears of the student community.

Abroad, it is learnt that some countries follow a mixed format. In the U.K., the U.S. tech firms allow engineers to work a four-day week, while sales staff follow a five-day week pattern. In Germany, manufacturing section works a five-day week while the white-collar, a four-day week. This is being done to ensure talent retention & attraction and test whether productivity rises by allowing this flexibility.  But again, it’s happening in the developed countries.

Again, is this 48-hour week justified for India, if it has to grow faster? China, Korea, Japan did not cap working hours.

In India, it may be recalled that sometime in 2023, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy urged the youth to work for 70 hours a week. That snowballed into a national debate, with people almost baying for his blood as if he had committed some kind of sacrilege.

And early this year, Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subrahmanyan sparked an outrage with his comments “How long can you stare at your wife”?” In other words, he was asking his employees to work 90 hours a week including Sundays.

If one looks at successful people around the world, be it CEOs, film stars, politicians, or sports players, then you will realise all of them work at least 16-18 hours a day. No pain, no gain. If you are a clock watcher, then there’s a high chance that your career graph will be flat.

There are few exceptions in all sectors. Take, for instance, the film industry where working hours are crazy - and two-three shifts, a norm. Akshay Kumar, one of the most successful and highest-paid actors, shoots only for 8 hours and does not work on weekends. He can afford to do that. He has more than arrived. His net worth is around Rs 2500 crore.  That’s work-life balance.

But can the majority of people working in the film industry that includes stars, technicians, cameramen, script writers, light boys etc. say “we will work only 8 hours”? Before they can say “Jack Robinson” they will be thrown out.

Look at the gig workers (Swiggy/Zomato, Uber/Ola) or those in the unorganised sectors… most of them work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. The security guards in all housing societies and offices work for 12 hours a day and seven days a week. If they take a day off then their salary is cut.

In India, the work culture is different. Nobody switches off from work. In fact, most people carry work home.

In most companies it is a “lala culture”. If the boss hangs around (he has no burnout issues), then he expects the entire office to do likewise.  And invariably, most bosses get into action after 6 pm just when the employees are getting ready to go home. Should anybody clock out, even if he/she has completed his/her work, then a tongue-in-cheek comment is made about his/her punctuality to log out. So, the sheer fear of losing out sees employees staying connected with the office, come rain or shine.

Clearly, work-life balance is a luxury for the majority of our population -- especially after Covid-19.