Some countries have introduced laws to limit working hours for employees. Why are these laws introduced? Do you think it is a positive or a negative development?
Sample Response
There has been a drastic increase in working hours in many countries and employees have been pushed to work harder and longer without any additional incentives than their wages. Therefore, many countries have passed new laws to control and legitimate working hours. I believe that it will send a positive message to workers lifting their morale and dedication towards work, and should be considered a positive development.
There are numerous examples, all around the world, where companies are making their employees work longer than normal duty hours. This has led to severe problems including employees feeling immense pressure from their employers to meet targets and deadlines. This is one of the pivotal reasons that employees are more susceptible to illness and stress. Therefore, some legislation is required to curb that, and those new laws that restrict working hours are aimed to achieve exactly that.
Overall, it is a positive development and those laws have already proved that they are immensely beneficial. Newly introduced rules have substantial impacts on workers' performance and health. These employees have become more responsible and productive. The quality of the work has also increased after applying these rules. In addition to this, people's health conditions have significantly improved. Now they have more time to spend with their family which helped them tremendously mitigate their stress and tensions.
To conclude, I believe that longer working hours have detrimental effects on employees' physical and psychological health and social life. New laws that limit working hours will bring several changes in their lifestyle that would lead them towards a better and more successful professional and social life.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Fix comparison phrase Original: additional incentives than their wages Suggested revision: additional compensation beyond their wages Why it matters: “Beyond” expresses an amount additional to wages, while “compensation” accurately names payment for extra work.
- 2. Use accurate verbs Original: control and legitimate working hours Suggested revision: regulate and standardise working hours Why it matters: “Legitimate” is not a verb meaning to set lawful limits, whereas “regulate” and “standardise” fit the intended policy action.
- 3. Fix example structure Original: numerous examples, all around the world, where Suggested revision: numerous examples around the world of Why it matters: The preposition “of” correctly links the examples to companies making employees work longer.
- 4. Use natural time phrase Original: longer than normal duty hours Suggested revision: beyond normal working hours Why it matters: “Beyond normal working hours” is the standard expression for excessive work time.
- 5. Clarify noun phrase Original: severe problems including employees feeling immense pressure Suggested revision: severe problems, including immense pressure on employees Why it matters: The revision adds the required list punctuation and replaces the awkward gerund construction.
- 6. Use correct relative linker Original: pivotal reasons that Suggested revision: main reasons why Why it matters: “Why” correctly introduces the consequence associated with a reason.
- 7. Clarify reference Original: to curb that Suggested revision: to curb this practice Why it matters: Naming the practice removes the vague demonstrative reference.
- 8. Streamline noun phrase Original: those new laws that restrict working hours Suggested revision: new laws restricting working hours Why it matters: The participial phrase expresses the defining information concisely without an unnecessary demonstrative.
- 9. Fix verb pattern Original: are aimed to achieve Suggested revision: aim to achieve Why it matters: The active construction “aim to achieve” is grammatical and direct.
- 10. Clarify pronoun reference Original: it Suggested revision: this Why it matters: “This” points clearly to the introduction of the working-hours laws.
- 11. Use concise complement Original: proved that they are immensely beneficial Suggested revision: proved immensely beneficial Why it matters: “Prove” can take an adjective complement directly, avoiding an unnecessary that-clause.
- 12. Use natural collocation Original: impacts Suggested revision: effects Why it matters: “Effects on” is the more natural formal collocation in this context.
Suggested Rewrites
- additional incentives than their wages additional compensation beyond their wages
- control and legitimate working hours regulate and standardise working hours
- numerous examples, all around the world, where numerous examples around the world of
- longer than normal duty hours beyond normal working hours
- severe problems including employees feeling immense pressure severe problems, including immense pressure on employees
- pivotal reasons that main reasons why
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response directly explains that working-hour limits protect employees from excessive pressure, illness, and damage to family life, and it consistently presents the laws as beneficial for health, morale, and productivity. Its main limitation is that several claimed outcomes are asserted without concrete support, while some phrasing is awkward. The highest-priority improvement is to develop one realistic workplace example that demonstrates how regulated hours improve both employee welfare and performance.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both questions are fully answered with a clear positive judgement and relevant reasons, although evidence for the claimed benefits remains general.
Use a specific example to show how limiting overtime reduces stress or errors while preserving productivity.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay progresses logically from the reasons for legislation to its positive effects and a consistent conclusion, with focused paragraphs.
Avoid beginning the third paragraph with Overall because the full conclusion comes later; use a topic sentence about benefits instead.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range for employment, health, and productivity, but several collocations and word choices are unnatural.
Use natural expressions such as regulate working hours, improve morale, standard hours, reduce stress, and employee well-being.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A variety of sentence structures conveys meaning clearly, though tense consistency, article use, pronoun reference, and clause construction show recurring slips.
Keep time references consistent and check agreement in phrases involving employees, their families, and the effects of legislation.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some countries have introduced laws to limit working hours for employees. Why are these laws introduced? Do you think it is a positive or a negative development?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.