Introduction

Context: IT Industry Growth, Global Competitiveness, and Work Culture

India’s IT sector has experienced remarkable growth over the past two decades, becoming a global hub for software services, outsourcing, and digital solutions. With this expansion, the work culture has evolved rapidly, often characterized by project-driven deadlines, cross-time-zone coordination, and flexible remote work arrangements.

While flexibility has been a hallmark of IT employment, employees frequently face longer hours during peak project cycles or client deliverables. The sector’s global competitiveness places additional pressure on companies to ensure timely delivery, driving a culture where extended work hours are informally expected.

Key observations of the IT work environment include:

• Predominantly project-based and deadline-driven workflows.
• Frequent interaction with international clients requiring odd-hour coordination.
• Existing provisions for flexible work schedules, but limited statutory enforcement for overtime.

This evolving environment raises questions about whether longer working hours might become formalized under the recently enacted New Labour Codes, particularly the OSH Code, 2020, which regulates working hours, rest periods, and employee safety.

Purpose of the Article: Analyzing Potential Changes in Working Hours

The article aims to provide a fact-based analysis of how the New Labour Codes could affect working hours in the IT industry. Specifically, it will:

• Examine statutory provisions governing work hours, overtime, and rest intervals.
• Analyze current industry practices and trends in employee scheduling.
• Assess potential impacts on employee well-being, productivity, and employer compliance.
• Offer insights for HR teams, managers, and IT professionals navigating this transition.

By understanding both the legal framework and practical industry realities, IT employees and employers can better anticipate changes, manage workloads, and maintain a sustainable work culture.

Current Work Hour Norms in the IT Sector

Standard Shifts, Overtime Practices, and Employment Contracts

Traditionally, IT employees in India work standard shifts of 8–9 hours per day, but these are often extended during peak project phases or international client deliveries. Employment contracts typically define core working hours, but many companies allow flexibility in start and end times to accommodate remote work or client coordination across time zones.

Overtime in the IT sector is generally informal, often compensated through time off, performance bonuses, or project completion incentives rather than strict statutory overtime pay. Some larger organizations have structured policies for overtime, but enforcement varies, especially in smaller or startup environments.

Role of Flexible Hours, Remote Work, and Project-Based Deadlines

Flexible work arrangements, including remote work, staggered shifts, and compressed workweeks, have become widespread, particularly post-pandemic. While these arrangements offer better work-life balance, they often result in blurred boundaries, where employees continue work beyond standard hours to meet deadlines.

Key factors shaping IT work schedules include:

• Project delivery timelines and critical client dependencies
• Cross-border collaboration requiring odd-hour meetings
• Agile and sprint-based workflows that compress work into short cycles

Key Statistics on Average Working Hours

• Surveys indicate that IT professionals often work 45–50 hours per week, exceeding the standard 40-hour norm.
• During critical project phases, weekly hours can rise to 55–60, reflecting the sector’s high-intensity environment.
• Despite these hours, reported overtime compensation is inconsistent, contributing to concerns about potential regulation under the New Labour Codes.

New Labour Codes and Implications for Working Hours

Provisions under the OSH Code, 2020 Related to Working Hours, Overtime, and Rest Intervals

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020 codifies regulations for maximum working hours, overtime limits, rest intervals, and weekly offs. 

Key aspects relevant to IT employees include:

• Maximum of 8–9 hours per day and 48 hours per week, with provisions for overtime under specific conditions.
• Mandatory rest intervals and weekly offs to protect employee health and prevent fatigue.
• Overtime must be compensated either monetarily or with compensatory leave, ensuring statutory compliance.

Flexibility Clauses for Fixed-Term, Contractual, and Gig Employees

The Codes introduce flexibility for non-permanent employees, including:

• Fixed-term and contractual workers can have variable work schedules, but within prescribed limits.
• Gig and platform workers are included under social security and safety provisions, although daily and weekly hour limits remain.
• Employers are required to maintain records of hours worked to comply with statutory requirements.

State-Wise Variations and Notifications Affecting IT Workplaces

Since labour is a concurrent subject, states have discretion in notifying rules and implementation guidelines:

• Certain states may allow sector-specific relaxations, potentially affecting IT firms differently depending on their location.
• Companies operating across multiple states must navigate varying compliance requirements, creating administrative complexity.
• Timely awareness of state notifications is crucial to avoid disputes or penalties related to work hours.

Industry Practices and Emerging Trends

Current Overtime Culture and Informal Long-Hour Expectations

The IT sector has long been associated with a culture of extended work hours, largely driven by delivery commitments and the urgency of project cycles. Even though employment contracts typically specify standard daily hours, performance-linked expectations often pressure employees to stretch beyond these limits. In many organisations, staying late has become an unspoken benchmark of commitment, with junior employees facing the highest pressure to match senior expectations of availability and responsiveness.

Impact of Deadlines, Client Demands, and International Collaborations

Global delivery models significantly influence the length and timing of workdays. North American and European client timelines, especially, push Indian teams into evening and late-night work windows. Agile methodologies and sprint cycles often create intensified workloads, compressing deliverables into short time frames. Additionally, periods of crisis—such as system outages or cybersecurity alerts—can lead to mandatory extended hours, irrespective of time zones or weekends. Although this improves organisational competitiveness, the burden falls directly on employees.

Examples of Companies Experimenting with Extended Shifts or Flexible Schedules

Some IT companies are exploring 4-day workweeks with longer shifts, while others are piloting 12-hour rotational shifts to maximise delivery coverage without breaching weekly hour limits. Conversely, several firms are adopting split-shift models that allow employees to pause mid-day and resume later to sync with global clients. Remote-first companies, especially startups, are promoting output-based performance, where hours are not monitored but fast execution is expected, which still indirectly increases work hours. These varied experiments suggest that the industry is searching for a sustainable balance between productivity and employee well-being.

Potential Impacts on IT Employees

Health, Productivity, and Work-Life Balance Considerations

Sustained long hours have clear implications for mental and physical health. Symptoms such as burnout, sleep disruption, musculoskeletal strain, and chronic fatigue have become increasingly common across the sector. While longer hours may temporarily increase output, research shows that productivity sharply declines beyond 45 hours per week, increasing error rates and reducing creativity and problem-solving ability—skills that are critical in the IT discipline.

Employee Morale, Retention, and Job Satisfaction

A culture normalising long hours risks eroding morale and loyalty. High workloads without recovery periods contribute to dissatisfaction, leading to higher attrition rates and quiet quitting behaviours. Younger professionals increasingly prioritise personal time, mental health, and flexible arrangements, and organisations failing to address these concerns may struggle to attract and retain top talent. Conversely, companies that manage hours responsibly often see greater motivation, innovation, and team cohesion.

Legal Protections and Grievance Mechanisms Available Under the Codes

The New Labour Codes, particularly the OSH Code, require employers to adhere to daily and weekly hour limits, ensure compensated overtime, and provide mandatory rest periods and weekly offs. Employees can raise concerns through internal HR channels, legally recognised Works Committees, and state-level labour authorities. Organisations must also maintain accurate attendance and overtime records, enabling employees to challenge violations. As implementation progresses, transparency and enforcement will play a decisive role in protecting worker rights while ensuring sustainable productivity.

Employer Perspective — Compliance and Operational Flexibility

Strategies for Balancing Deadlines with Statutory Limits

For IT organisations, the core challenge lies in aligning project delivery timelines with legally mandated working hour limits. Companies are increasingly adopting shift-based scheduling, rotational weekend support, and follow-the-sun models to ensure global client alignment without overburdening specific teams. Senior management is also examining resource forecasting and workload distribution to prevent last-minute escalations that typically lead to prolonged working hours.

Some progressive firms are integrating capacity planning dashboards, sprint-load estimates, and workload analytics tools to proactively identify high-pressure weeks and redistribute resources before burnout occurs.

Payroll and Overtime Considerations

The New Labour Codes require recorded, authorised, and compensated overtime, which directly influences payroll forecasting. IT firms must therefore reassess:

• Overtime rate calculations
• Budget allocation for peak workload periods
• Compensatory leave mechanisms
• Financial impact of repeated extended-hour cycles

Many employers are exploring contractual mechanisms such as project allowance models or rotational duty premiums to ensure compliance without escalating costs beyond sustainable limits.

Risk Management and Internal Audits for Labour Law Adherence

Given the Codes’ emphasis on compliance, organisations are prioritising internal governance to avert regulatory exposure. Key initiatives include:

• Monitoring hours through digital attendance and biometric tools
• Standardising overtime approval workflows
• Documenting rest intervals and weekly offs
• Maintaining audit-ready records for labour authorities

External advisories and labour law audits are also gaining traction, particularly among mid-sized IT companies that previously operated with informal work-hour practices. Non-compliance can lead to penalties, reputational damage, and adverse litigation, making compliance not only legally necessary but strategically prudent.

Ethical and Strategic Considerations

Preventive vs Exploitative Management of Work Hours

The IT industry stands at a crossroads: extended hours can be defensive (to comply with global time zones) or opportunistic (to extract more output with the same workforce). The ethical distinction lies in whether extended hours are:

• Temporary, structured, compensated, and optional

or

• Normalised, unpaid, expected, and tied to job security fears

The Codes do not prohibit longer workweeks but require formal compliance, placing a moral responsibility on employers to protect employees from unhealthy work environments.

Maintaining Employee Trust While Meeting Business Objectives

Trust becomes fragile when workplace expectations change without transparent communication. To sustain employee morale, employers must communicate:

• Reasons for longer hours
• Duration for which the change will apply
• Compensation and recovery mechanisms
• Paths for raising work-hour-related grievances

Companies that acknowledge workload stress and actively model empathy-led leadership tend to face less attrition and retain higher productivity levels even during demanding project cycles.

Long-Term Sustainability of Work Culture in IT

In the long term, productivity, innovation, and problem-solving cannot thrive under chronic fatigue. The future of IT competitiveness depends on whether companies choose:

• High-output but humane work cultures, supported by compliance and wellness,
  or
• Relentless grind models, risking burnout, attrition, and skill drain.

Industry leaders increasingly recognise that sustainable work culture is a business asset, not an HR slogan. As the Labour Codes push for structure and accountability, IT employers must evolve from time-driven output to value-driven output, ensuring operational success without compromising employee well-being.

Conclusion

Summary of Findings and Potential Scenarios

The analysis shows that the New Labour Codes neither mandate nor promote longer working hours in the IT sector — but they permit structured flexibility, and that space may influence industry practices. Globally linked project cycles, client dependency across time zones, and the competitive nature of the IT sector leave the door open for extended-hour models, particularly in high-pressure teams such as support, cybersecurity, development sprints, and delivery management.

Two possible work-culture scenarios may unfold in the coming years:

• Balanced Flexibility Model: Regulated extended hours with compensation, rotation, and recovery, aligned with statutory protections.
• Escalation Model: Normalised long-hour culture masked under global demand pressures, risking burnout, attrition, and legal exposure.

Which path becomes the norm depends not only on the law but also on employer priorities, employee assertiveness, and enforcement consistency across states.

Guidance for IT Employees and Employers Navigating Work Hours Under the New Codes

For IT employees:

• Understand contractual terms related to overtime, flexible hours, compensatory off, and performance expectations.
• Track working hours and ensure authorised overtime is compensated in accordance with statute and policy.
• Raise concerns through internal grievance channels or labour authorities if working-hour norms are routinely bypassed.

For employers:

• Treat flexibility as an operational tool, not a cultural default.
• Reinforce compliance through transparent communication, digital audit trails, and fatigue-management protocols.
• Focus on sustainable productivity rather than output derived from fatigue, which ultimately erodes innovation and retention.

Ultimately, the New Labour Codes give IT organisations the freedom to design work models — not the license to overwork. The future of working hours in IT will be defined less by legislation and more by the collective values and strategic decisions of industry leaders.

A sustainable, compliant, and humane work culture will become the true competitive differentiator in the long run.LKO