Living wages and excessive overtime are among the most persistent challenges in responsible IT manufacturing — and they are connected. When base wages are too low, workers may rely on excessive overtime just to make ends meet.
TCO Certified addresses both issues together, with criteria that drive progress — and the results are becoming increasingly clear.
According to ILO Conventions 131 and 26, minimum wages are intended to ensure a decent standard of living. However, in many countries, these wages fall short of covering basic needs. As a result, workers often rely on overtime to earn enough for basic survival, undermining their well-being and increasing their vulnerability to exploitation. Recent assessments by TCO Development show that this remains a widespread issue, with most brands still at an early stage in addressing living wage gaps.
Factory audits in the IT industry frequently reveal excessive overtime with workweeks of 72 or, in some cases, up to 84 hours. While this may appear to be a working-hours issue linked to ineffective labor policies and control processes at the factory level, it is often the end result of exploitation driven by insufficient wages. Suppliers will claim that workers want more hours. In reality, workers have told us they have little choice — overtime is necessary because regular hours and wages are too low to meet basic living needs. In other words, excessive overtime is rarely the root cause, but rather a visible outcome of systemic wage levels that fail to provide a decent livelihood.
This situation has several negative consequences:
- Increased health and safety risks. Fatigue from long hours raises the likelihood of accidents and injuries.
- Poor physical and mental well-being. Ongoing stress and lack of recovery can lead to burnout and long-term health issues.
- Limited time for rest and family life. Workers have little opportunity to recover or maintain a healthy work–life balance.
- Restricted opportunities for development. Long hours reduce access to education and skills development.
- Lower productivity and quality. Fatigue increases errors, rework, and inefficiencies.
- High workforce turnover. Poor conditions lead to employee absence and make it harder to retain workers.
Why solving the issue is challenging
Improving wages in global supply chains is complex. Factories often produce IT products for multiple brands, while wages are set at the factory level and apply to all workers. Raising salaries for workers on a single production line may create imbalances and unfair treatment among the rest of the employees. This is often cited by brands and suppliers as a barrier to raising wages. Our research confirms that individual brands tend to see their influence as limited — highlighting the need for coordinated, collective action. Without clear requirements and incentives, low wages and reliance on overtime are likely to persist.
How TCO Certified addresses the problem
TCO Certified includes several criteria designed to improve working conditions and drive progress toward living wages in IT product manufacturing.
Limiting excessive working hours
A key requirement of TCO Certified is a maximum 60-hour workweek, including overtime, across the entire factory. Compliance is verified through independent factory audits covering up to 18 months of working hour data.
This enforced limit shifts the production model by reducing the reliance on excessive overtime and increasing pressure to raise base wages. Workers have told us that if they cannot earn sufficient income within this limit, they will move to other factories where more overtime is available. Naturally, workers prefer to meet their income needs while still having free time.
To attract and retain a stable, skilled workforce, factories need to offer competitive wages within reasonable working hours rather than relying on a limited number of employees working excessive overtime. This is an important improvement, since few brand owners have achieved direct wage improvements through their own supply chain programs.
Incentivizing living wage certification
TCO Certified also encourages factories to become SA8000 certified. SA8000 is an internationally recognized social certification that includes requirements for fair wages and humane working conditions, based on international human rights and labor standards.
Factories that obtain SA8000 certification receive benefits within the TCO Certified system, providing a strong incentive to adopt wage structures that support a living wage.
Since factories listed on TCO Certified Accepted Factory List are risk-categorized and visible to brands, this also creates transparency and motivation for continuous improvement.
Supporting long-term wage improvements
In addition to these requirements, TCO Certified includes an annual review process that guides brand owners in establishing structured living wage programs for their suppliers. Progress is independently reviewed each year. This systematic approach ensures that progress toward fair compensation is not a one-time effort but part of an ongoing improvement process.
Living wage and working hours criteria in TCO Certified
Purchasing decisions drive change
Living wages and reasonable working hours are essential for worker well-being and more sustainable supply chains — but progress requires action. For IT purchasers, addressing labor conditions in the supply chain can be difficult. Supply chains are complex, and verifying working conditions independently is rarely feasible for individual buyers. By specifying products certified to TCO Certified, buyers gain access to a systematic, independently verified approach to improving working conditions in IT manufacturing.
By making responsible purchasing decisions, IT buyers can help drive industry-wide improvements. Specifying products certified to TCO Certified sends a clear signal to the market and supports more responsible manufacturing practices. For the issues of living wages and excessive overtime, this approach has already contributed to measurable progress:
Shorter working hours
Since the introduction of the 60-hour workweek requirement in TCO Certified in 2018, significant improvements have been achieved. Currently, 30 IT brands, covering approximately 180 factories manufacturing certified products, have aligned their production to this limit. As a result, around 275,000 factory workers are impacted by these improvements. Excessive overtime is no longer seen as normal business practice, but as an issue that must be addressed systematically. This has led to better production planning, closer monitoring of working hours, and more sustainable staffing levels.Since the introduction of the 60-hour workweek requirement in TCO Certified in 2018, significant improvements have been achieved. Currently, 30 IT brands, covering approximately 180 factories manufacturing certified products, have aligned their production to this limit. As a result, around 275,000 factory workers are impacted by these improvements. Excessive overtime is no longer seen as normal business practice, but as an issue that must be addressed systematically. This has led to better production planning, closer monitoring of working hours, and more sustainable staffing levels.
Improved wages
Our demands for limited working hours have also led to higher wages. Factory owners can no longer rely on workers accepting excessive overtime to earn enough to cover basic living costs. In several cases, this has made it necessary to increase base wages in order to better meet workers’ living wage needs and retain employees.
Positive outcomes across the whole factory
The benefits extend well beyond the specific production lines where certified products are made. With TCO Certified, only audits conducted in accordance with SA8000 or RBA-VAP are approved, and these reviews cover the whole factory rather than individual lines. This means that limitations on working hours and salary improvements apply not just to those producing TCO Certified products, but also to employees manufacturing products for other IT brands.
