How to Prevent Long Working Hours that Lead to Dissatisfied Employees and High Death Rates News provided by Share this article A recently released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) tracking loss of life and health associated with working long hours between 2000 and 2016 has shown that as many as 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease a year can be linked to individuals who worked at least 55 hours a week. The numbers of death grew by 29 percent from the first year of the study to the last. The findings come as several high-profile U.S. companies have recently made headlines with complaints from workers after extreme workweeks.