Another harsh summer is here. How can India's workforce cope with the heat?

Policies and provisions for the informal workforce

Neeraja Kudrimoti, lead--climate action at non-profit Transform Rural India, is seeing how the heat stress is making it difficult for farmers to work in the field, how it is impacting livestock, availability of food and water, and health, particularly of women. She calls heat-induced stress a “vicious cycle” that not only impacts health, but also the economic security of people in rural areas.

The non-profit works with the bottom 1 lakh villages and marginalised communities across sectors like governance, gender, employment and entrepreneurship, and farm prosperity. Their core presence is in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. She gives an anecdotal example of how many rural communities dependent on the daily wage employment provided National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA)—which is mostly outdoor labour—are unable to work due to the heat. “There is also load-shedding during summers in the villages we work, so farmers dependent on electricity for irrigation also suffer,” she says, adding that high prices of vegetables and food costs add to the income pressure.

A November 2024 study by Saudamini Das and E Somanthan published in Environment Research Letters assessed informal sector workers in Delhi during peak heat in the summer of 2019. They found that apart from income losses and health impacts such as the loss of sleep and more self-reported sickness, the workers faced increased expenses due to requirements for more water, ice and doctor visits. A one-degree increase in mean temperature is associated with a decline in net earnings of about 16 percent, the study said, adding that “net earnings were 40 percent lower during the two heatwaves that occurred during the study period”.

Kudrimoti explains that when heat affects the health of family members, particularly of children and the elderly who are more vulnerable, women often have to stop working and devote themselves to caregiving responsibilities. “This impacts the workforce participation of women,” she says, adding that when water tables dry up due to the heat, it is the women again who are affected, as they have to go long distances to fetch water for the households.

She says that while rural communities themselves take initiatives like tree plantations, low-cost water harvesting structures and building mud houses to protect themselves from the heat as they work outdoors, there should be “integrated and sustained efforts” from the government. This includes upgrading infrastructure, and providing help like provision of shade, water and sanitation, and health care facilities, apart from a financial safety net for daily wage labourers—like an insurance provision—that will protect them even if they miss a day’s work due to heat.

Also read: Blazing summer, harsh temperature may heat up food prices, crimp consumption again

What are companies up to?

While informal sector workers are largely dependent on government action to address heat stress, formal sector workers—regular, part-time or contractual—are dependent on informed, sensitive action from their companies.

Aditya Narayan Mishra, managing director and CEO of CIEL HR, a human resources solutions provider, identifies consumer goods, manufacturing, construction, quick commerce delivery, supply chain logistics and sales executives as some of the heat-exposed sectors and roles. In his experience, companies, particularly larger ones, are educating their employees about heat-related precautions, hydration, and stress prevention. They are rescheduling activities to avoid outdoor work at peak times, improving ventilation systems, scheduling breaks during the day, and some are providing innovative products like cooling helmets or jackets to employees. “It [these efforts] go from the company’s P&L and hence, there is some hesitation, naturally. But companies that understand employee wellbeing do it. Large companies, of course, want to build a strong employer brand, and can also afford it compared to small and medium-sized organisations,” he says.

For instance, manufacturing company CEAT conducts awareness drives led by factory medical officers at their manufacturing facilities. These include circulars, and daily safety briefings where precautionary measures and symptoms of heat-related illnesses are discussed, says Somraj Roy, chief human resource officer (CHRO). “We also emphasise dietary support during this period, providing nimbu paani (lemon water) at regular intervals, and including dahi (curd) in meals to maintain hydration and internal cooling,” he says, adding there is a car / mobility policy for field sales employees to reduce their exposure to harsh outdoor conditions. The company has around 8,000 employees, including management and associates, and the sales and manufacturing teams represent more than 50 percent of their employee base. They operate six manufacturing facilities across India.

The Aditya Birla Group launched a programme to tackle heat stress among employees in December 2023, as per a note on their website. As part of this, they conducted qualitative assessments at 56 sites, including Hindalco, cement, pulp and fibre, chemicals and textiles, covering 1,732 workplaces, identifying high-risk areas. Here, they implemented solutions like rest areas, adjusted work schedules and cool drinking water. A quantitative assessment was done with thermal work limit (TWL) equipment to implement control measures in critical zones, and psychological monitoring identified 711 high-risk employees at 34 sites, who were  “given special attention or reassigned to cooler areas during peak summer months”, the note says.

While companies tend to wait for policy signals, by taking initiatives like reducing heat stress among employees they can set signals that can inform policies, says Hisham Mundol, chief advisor, India, Environmental Defense Fund, a US-based non-profit environmental advocacy group. “Oftentimes, the government picks up best practices from companies. A notable example is how companies with progressive policies for their migrant labour force showed that they can reduce turnover and improve productivity,” he says.

According to him, there is still a lack of urgency among stakeholders because heat stress is not a 365-day problem. “Heat stress and heatwaves are happening more frequently, but it is still for a limited period. Once the rains come in July and things stabilise, people tend to take their foot off the accelerator, when in fact, that should be the time you build your heat shelters, come up with policies, or plan water stations,” he says.

Mundoli of Azim Premji University says that how we respond to heat stress points to a larger question of how we imagine the running of our cities in the long-term. She says implementation of heat action plans is essential to safeguard the formal and informal sector workforce in the long-run. In 2013, Ahmedabad became the first municipal corporation in Asia to develop a heat action plan. Since then, more than 23 states and around 140 cites have city and state-level heat action plans, according to Dr Lahariya in The Hindu.

Mundol of Environmental Defense Fund says that not all cities have heat action plans, and even in ones that do, it has not been adequately budgeted or costed for. “Sometimes, there is a knee-jerk reaction, where in the middle of a heatwave, you want to see the status of your heat action plan. But you cannot act in four hours. You need months to act on it,” he says, adding that temperatures are rising, and heatwaves are happening every year, so having dedicated budgets, and having more senior-level oversight on whether the plan is being implemented will go a long way. While short-term measures are necessary, in the long-term, he says, “you cannot shelter or hydrate your way out of heatwaves. You have to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases you are pumping in”.