Right to Disconnect: Why India’s workplaces and economy struggle with a European work-life rule

After India consolidated decades of fragmented labour regulation into four sweeping labour codes, lawmakers are now turning to a subtler but increasingly urgent question of modern work: when does workday actually end? That debate moved into Parliament last week when Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule introduced a private member's bill proposing a legal "right to disconnect" for employees.

The bill seeks to give workers the right to disengage from work-related electronic contributions outside prescribed hours, aiming to curb the culture of constant availability that has taken hold across white-collar jobs in India.

The proposed legislation, titled "The Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025", would require employers to respect defined non-working hours and penalise violations. Sule has suggested up to 1% of an organisation's total remuneration for non-compliance.

Sule warned further that round-the-clock availability had begun to exact a serious psychological cost. Employees expected to remain perpetually reachable, she said, face a higher risk of burnout, sleep disorders, emotional exhaustion, and long-term mental health challenges.

Several experts resonated with Sule's argument. "This could be transformative for white-collar employees, particularly in sectors like IT, financial services, and professional services, where 'always-on' culture has become normalised," said Nilesh Dungarwal, CEO & Co-Founder of WorkIndia.

Citing studies that suggest nearly 70% of Indian employees check work messages after hours, he said the bill's proposal, including the creation of an Employees' Welfare Authority and mandatory overtime compensation, addresses long-standing pain points.

Yet industry leaders caution that translating the idea into law may prove far more complex than its intent suggests.

India's services-led economy, they argue, is deeply interwined with global time zones and project-based work. "A rigid, one-size-fits-all legal right to disconnect will be difficult to deploy uniformly," said Shantanu Rooj, Founder and CEO, TeamLease Edtech.

Instead, he called for a more calibrated approach: sector-specific norms, internal company policies, and clearer expectations around availability, rather than a single national mandate.

Global examples offer both encouragement and caution. According to data shared exclusively by specialist staffing firm Xpheno, only 11 countries worldwide have enacted some form of right-to-disconnect legislation, including France, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, and Canada.

Notably, most of these economies adopted such frameworks at significantly higher productivity levels than India's.

Ireland, which introduced the right in 2021, ranks among the world's most productive economies, with GDP per hour exceeding $160. Belgium, which followed in 2022, ranks in the top 10, while France, often considered the pioneer after legislation in 2017, maintains the GDP per hour above $80.18. Canada, whose productivity ranks 35th, adopted the rule in 2021. At present, the country's GDP per hour is $69.76.

By contrast, India's productivity ranking stands at 198, with GDP per hour under $11, according to Xpheno data. "Out of 11 countries with effective right-to-disconnect laws, only two feature in the global top-10 productivity," said Kamal Karanth, Co-Founder, Xpheno. "Since India is still building that foundation, borrowing such a model too early could become a constraint rather than a catalyst".

Even in countries where the right exists on paper, enforcement has been uneven. In France, large employers such as Orange and Renault introduced internal policies, but ambiguities in the law led to inconsistent application. Australia's more recent legislation has been cited as a clearer model, defining what constitutes "unreasonable" contact and offering formal mechanisms for redress.

The timing of the debate also matters. India is preparing to operationalise its four labour codes, which include provisions mandating double-wage overtime compensation for work beyond eight hours or 48 hours a week. "There needs to be a clear interplay between wage regulations and disconnection rights," Dungarwal said, "so employees can both refuse contact and be fairly compensated when they choose to respond".

Sunil Chemmankotil, Country Manager, Adecco India, said the immediate priority should be ensuring the smooth rollout of the labour codes before layering additional regulation on employers.

Ultimately, proponents and critics appear to agree on one point: clarity will matter more than rigidity.

Defined response windows for cross-border roles, structured on-call systems for critical functions, and the use of technology to delay non-urgent communications could help reconcile employee well-being with business realities. If implemented thoughtfully," Rooj said, "the bill could translate the intent of the Labour Codes into everyday workplace behaviour, without constraining genuine business needs or global service commitments".