IT workers gather in large numbers to protest 14-hour workday proposal | Hacker News Reader

IT workers gather in large numbers to protest 14-hour workday proposal

thehindu.com

27 pointsthisislife218 comments

Am I missing something? From the article:

"“An employee working in IT/ITeS/BPO sector may be required or allowed to work for more than 12 hours in a day and not exceeding 125 hours in three continuous months.”

Of course, requiring employees to work 12 hrs/day is torture, but 125 hours in 3 months is nothing: in a normal 40-hour workweek, you'd work that much in slightly over 3 weeks. At 12 hrs/day, they'd fulfill their 125-hour quota in about 10.5 days and then be able to take 80 days off for paid vacation. Is there some kind of misprint here?

I assume that's the limit for overtime hours, e.g. if you works 12 hours a day, 12-8 = 4 hours of that is counted towards 125 hours limit over 3 months.

I think it’s 125 hours of OT in 3 months. Also, paid vacation isn’t as liberal in India as it might be elsewhere.

I hope they manage to win this, I have seen too many offshoring colleages across various companies, to be handled in a kind of modern slavery, given how project deadlines, work hours, or restrictions to access to work laws on the country of deployment (with menaces of being sent home and everything else related to it).

I’m a bit surprised by the headline because we are currently offshoring to India a lot and our main difficulty is high turnover as people jump companies for better wages. I was under the impression that the job market was very open for IT professionals in India at the moment.

The competition is quite fearce to land a degree, and what you are seeing is CV building, with the eye to get an opportunity to land an on-site position abroad, which can eventually provide a way to get a job in another non-Indian company.

There's high turnover because India isn't a WLB focused society like Europe is.

Compensation / status is bimodal due to the lower end of IT jobs being < 15k USD/yr, and higher end easily exceeding 100K USD/yr.

The pressure to reach the higher end (> 60k USD/yr I guess) is immense and there's lot of competition, average junior in India does 500+ leetcode, this is because hiring metrics also scale with population.

14-hour days are crazy. I work for a company that outsources lots of work to eastern Europe. We basically cut our deadline in half last year because of mismanagement, didn't change the contract, and the team still had to complete it in this timeframe.

I know for a fact many people on the team were going to meetings at 7pm-10pm their time for months (and also working long hours). The project ended up being a success with very few issues, which surprised me.

Wasn't the new law literally bought by some really wealthy people?

Don't get me wrong, I can work really hard if I have to. But only for my own benefit and not for a manager who is taking advantage of me, or is really bad at planning.

14 hour days for knowledge work is insane... I'm generally only able to be productive 5-8 hours on a given day. Most of my time is in meetings though. There's definitely a drop off in terms of anything resembling productivity and even the suggestion is rather stupid.

In my later 20's I worked about 3 months of 60+ hour weeks and hit a point where I couldn't even concentrate/think... it wasn't a matter of didn't want to or not.. it was literally not able to function, and probably shouldn't have even driven to/from work at that point.

Trever moore wrote a song which i find very relatable in times like these

(https://youtu.be/rZFxZmDNlV8?si=BL47dIUO6TUB9vZ9)

RIP Trevor, I met him once at a show him and his buddies from wkuk did at a bar and he was super cool

What do you mean ya'll don't wanna'be slaves!?

"...and when they've spent all our money, they hold out their hands for more."

RIP Trevor

> As per the proposal, which has been paused for now following backlash from IT workers, “An employee working in IT/ITeS/BPO sector may be required or allowed to work for more than 12 hours in a day and not exceeding 125 hours in three continuous months.”

Currently, the law in Karnataka (India) allows a maximum of 10 hours of work per day, including overtime. This has been completely replaced with the proposed 12-hours workday.

Business Standard reports ( https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/it-workers-p... ):

> In recent years, the intense work culture in the IT industry has come under scrutiny due to its profound effects on employees' health and well-being. Several studies and surveys highlight the detrimental impacts of long working hours, which are prevalent among IT employees in India. According to a Knowledge Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) report, 45 per cent of employees in the IT sector are facing mental health issues such as depression and 55 per cent are facing physical health impacts. Increasing working hours will further aggravate this situation. It indicates that 50 per cent of IT employees in India work more than 9 hours a day, averaging 52.5 hours a week. This is significantly higher than the typical 36-40 hours per week observed in other countries ... "The same study shows that more than half of the IT employees face physical health issues. Common physical ailments among IT employees include back and neck pain, eyesight issues, intense headaches, Vitamin D deficiency, and insomnia," he added. Additionally, 74 per cent of IT employees miss family events due to extended work hours, reflecting a significant work-life imbalance.

The current Government in Karnataka has claimed that it is under pressure from corporates. Last year, Infosys chairman had faced criticisms for his "advise" that youngsters should be willing to work for more than 70+ hours a week for the sake of the country's development:

> Infosys co-founder Naranyana Murthy has caused intense debate in India and around the world, after comments he made relating to the work-ethic of young people. Murthy suggested young people should be willing to work for 70 hours per week as a matter of national pride ... ( https://www.consultancy.uk/news/35823/infosys-founder-calls-... )

His wife later claimed that her husband used to even work 90+ hours ....

Claiming to work 90 hour weeks to not have to spend time with your wife doesn't count.

All those "proposals" are only one question: am i a cog in a wheel that does what it is ordered to or a human.

Having worked a lot of doubles (16h) in the past 20 years, I wouldn't wish that on anyone...

In the old days there weren’t enough it people.

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