WHO and ILO warn people not to work long hours as it increases the risk of heart diseases and stroke

• Working from home has become the new normal in almost every industry, blurring the lines between home and work.
• A joint analysis by World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) shines a spotlight on the trend towards increased working hours which could lead to serious repercussions.
• Business Insider spoke to a few employees working in some big corporations. Many of them seem to be disgruntled by the current work-from-home practices.

This COVID-19 pandemic has obviously changed the mode of working in every sector across the globe. Working from home has become the new normal in almost every industry, blurring the lines between home and work. A joint analysis by World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) shines a spotlight on the trend towards increased working hours which could lead to serious repercussions.

The analysis reveals that working 55 or more hours per week can be associated with 35% higher risk of getting a stroke and 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working for 35-40 hours per week. WHO and ILO estimates that in 2016, around 3,98,000 people succumbed to a stroke and around 3,47,000 people died due to heart diseases, who worked at least 55 hours a week.

The number of people working for longer hours are increasing and it stands, currently, at 9% of the total population globally, putting more people at risk of work-related disability and early death, says the joint report.

Business Insider spoke to a few employees working in some big corporations. Many of them seem to be disgruntled by the current work-from-home practices.

“Productivity is at the headmost because you’re not working at the office, you tend to stretch and managers expect you to work for more hours,” said one of the employees working in consultancy firm KPMG. Working long hours has become a new trend and managers expect their employees to sit for longer hours.

“Due to the pandemic, our laptops never shut down, we have no fixed timings and we’re often under stringent deadlines,” said another employee working in an accounting firm in Gurugram. Employees are often burdened with work load which gives them no option but to sit for longer hours in order to meet the deadlines.

No job is worth the risk of a stroke and heart diseases, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of WHO. It’s high time for all employees, employers and the government to wake up and accept the fact that working for longer hours can lead to serious health risks and even premature death.


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