- Bhutanese workers face the longest work week in the world, averaging 54.4 hours.
- Overwork is widespread in the Himalayan country, affecting 61% of its population.
- A hotel worker from Bhutan told BI that she regularly works 112 hours a week, but she’s used to it.
The picturesque Kingdom of Bhutan, nestled between China and India, is widely recognized for its unique approach to economic development – prioritizing Gross National Happiness over GDP.
In practice, however, many Bhutanese workers have little time to pursue happiness. The small country leads the ranking for the average number of working hours in a week.
According to the International Labor Organization, Bhutanese workers work an average of 54.4 hours per week, far more than the 38-hour average in the US.
Bhutan also has the world’s largest share of employed people working more than 48 hours a week, the data said – the level the World Bank considers overwork.
This covers 61% of Bhutan’s workforce, the ILO said, compared to 13% in the US.
Long hours, little rest
It may come as a surprise – the tiny Buddhist kingdom is often seen as a tranquil paradise of mountains and temples.
Bhutanese workers challenged that impression, telling Business Insider that they feel compelled to spend most of their waking hours at work.
According to the World Bank report on Bhutan’s labor market, published earlier this year, overwork is particularly prevalent in the country’s private sector, particularly in family businesses, construction, transport and hospitality.
Bhutan has the longest working weeks in the world according to the International Labor Organization. Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images
Hours after overtime, 22-year-old Ten Choezim joined a video call from the kitchen of the hotel where she works in Thimphu, the capital.
Choezim and other workers in this article gave their real names but asked that their workplaces not be identified for fear of retaliation.
She told Business Insider that working beyond her contracted 12-hour shift is normal for her. She often clocks 16-hour days and regularly clocks in at 112-hour weeks, she said.
Once, she said, she worked 16-hour shifts for three weeks without a day off.
“I had pain, back pain, my legs hurt,” she said. “Mentally, I couldn’t speak well.”
Although she often feels exhausted by her work, Choezim saw few alternatives.
“After a while I got used to it,” she said, noting that she wouldn’t be able to live there if she worked less or quit her job.
Many Bhutanese are leaving the country
Although Choezim said she loves living in Bhutan, her intense workload has made her consider leaving for better pay and working conditions.
“Our country is peaceful and all, but when it comes to work, it’s hard,” she said.
Her sisters have already joined the exodus of Bhutanese youth, moving to Australia. She said she feels compelled to continue caring for their parents.
In his State of the Nation address in July, Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said some 64,000 people – about 9% of the country’s population – had emigrated, mostly to Australia.
He described it as an “unprecedented existential crisis” that could hamper the country’s development.
Overwork is widespread in Bhutan. Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Kalyani Honrao, an Asia analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, told Business Insider that Bhutan is caught in a vicious circle.
She said the mass exodus of skilled workers created a “brain drain”, leaving employers unable to fill skilled vacancies.
As a result, she said, the burden on those who remain increases, causing them to do the “heavy lifting.”
Meanwhile, according to Honrao, there is a large supply of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, which makes workers easily replaceable. “People try to do their best to stay employed and accept overwork as normal,” she said.
“Just support me and my family”
According to the World Bank, the main reason given for overwork in Bhutan is that the work demands it. The second biggest reason is that workers need more money.
For Namgyal Dorji Wangchuk, 43, both apply.
He told BI that he works up to 90 hours a week, including unpaid overtime, as a sales and marketing professional at a hotel.
To supplement his income, he occasionally takes on extra hours as a freelance consultant.
His hotel job requires him to work six days a week, often with late night shifts. She brings in about $361 a month.
Bhutan also has the world’s largest proportion of employed people working 49 or more hours per week. Anupam Nath/AP Photo
“It’s just enough to support me and my family,” he said. It covers rent, bills and some costs associated with raising two teenage daughters. He said he has little, to say nothing, left to save.
As a parent, he said, balancing his demanding work schedule with family life is a constant challenge.
Most days, he is home too late to see his children before they fall asleep. “So, I only spend quality time with my family once a week,” he said. “Otherwise, mostly, I’m working.”
The long hours often leave him feeling exhausted and irritable, but he said they are necessary to provide for his children.
The reality of work in Bhutan
Bhutan’s innovative Gross National Happiness Index, introduced in the 1970s and enshrined as a national goal in the constitution, aims to take a holistic picture of development.
It assesses the well-being and happiness of the population alongside, or even above, traditional economic indicators.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper El País this month, Prime Minister Tobgay said the framework takes into account measures like how the population uses their time, which he said is essential to “find out if it’s balanced, if you’re getting enough sleep, how do you manage work-life balance, etc.”
Gross National Happiness is an indicator of development in Bhutan’s constitution. Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Bhutan’s employment laws aim to codify these occupational standards by imposing an eight-hour workday, mandating rest breaks and entitling workers to overtime pay at a rate equal to or higher than the minimum wage. their regular.
But Honrao of the Economist Intelligence Unit said these labor laws are rarely enforced, and semi-skilled and unskilled workers tend to put up with violations for fear of losing their jobs.
Bhutan’s Labor Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Business Insider.
“Work is work”
Bikash Sharma, 46, is a supervisor at a company that exports construction materials near the Bhutan-India border.
He told BI that he usually works 12 hours a day, six days a week, but is only paid for an eight-hour day.
“It’s not fair enough, but what can we do?” he said. “A job is a job and you can’t find another job very easily.”
He added: “It is very difficult, but we have to feed ourselves and our family.”
Sharma said that sometimes he is so exhausted from work that he just wants to “run away and hide.”
However, despite these escapist fantasies, he has no intention of leaving Bhutan.
He said the kingdom’s low crime rates, lack of war, peace and the comfort of being with his family outweigh other considerations.
Bhutan is a picturesque country, but many citizens leave for other countries, mainly Australia. Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images
Instead, Sharma is trying to embrace Bhutan’s guiding philosophy — finding greater value in sources of joy other than the size of his bank balance.
“We are not very rich,” he said, but “we are happy.”
He added, “I would like my standard of living to be a little better.”