How many hours in a week a person should work has been the subject of much outrage lately. The choice of outrage over debate is very deliberate. So overwhelming has been the anger over the call for action given out first by Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy (work 70 hours a week) followed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman and Managing Director S.N. Subrahmanyan (90 hours a week) that a debate has been impossible. Trust the reckless me to join the argument now, of course, on the “wrong” side.
A truly brave man like Infosys veteran Mohandas Pai did come out to fight on behalf of this microscopic, intrepid minority. Serial entrepreneur and new-age investor Sanjeev Bikhchandani also wrote a long post on X, admiringly on Subrahmanyan, but also gently argued that a 90-hour work week wasn’t sustainable through an entire career. Mostly, however, the response was like Greta Thunberg on four double espressos: how dare you!
So overwhelming was this anger, the avalanche of social media memes and so triggered, especially the new-gen opinion, that even one as thick-skinned as me was scared into choosing discretion over valour. On much rethinking now, I’d dump intellectual cowardice.
Both Murthy and Subrahmanyan are entitled to exhort people to work longer hours to earn more for themselves, their companies and the country. Of course, they can’t force anybody. If you work in their companies and do not like what they are saying, you can explore LinkedIn.
Not all employees are equally brilliant or productive. Productivity will show in your annual appraisals, bonus, employee stock allocations. I understand that competition in a workplace isn’t sometimes seen as politically correct, but mercifully this is how it works in real life. It’s called merit.
And it will be easier if your mom and dad have built and set aside enough for you already. Just remember that the assets they built for you did not come by shooting the breeze at their workplaces. They worked long, long hours to give you the privilege of this cool outrage.
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Infosys and L&T are true Indian behemoths. Both are engineering businesses, one built on software and the other on hard, physical engineering. They are worth Rs eight and five trillion, directly employing 3.17 lakh and 4.07 lakh people, respectively. Both are competing with the best in the world. Infosys is central to India’s digitisation. L&T is an old-school, male-driven heavy engineering company. It has also built your Navy four nuclear armed submarines (SSBNs), heavy artillery, a tank, is digging a bunch of strategic tunnels and a lot of the physical infrastructure dotting your skylines.
Leaders who built and manage these incredible global leaders cannot be tyrants, slave-drivers or idiots. Essentially, what they are saying falls under the definition of rallying the troops, inspirational talk, like what the usual coach-speak with the team before a match: ‘Zor laga do, apni jaan laga do bachcho… aaj aar ya paar’. This isn’t a call for kamikaze, to put your life on the line to win a game. There is a popular Punjabi word for this: ‘hallasheri’. Loosely translated, it means, rouse your tigers.
Nobody can be forced to work long hours. Yet, if you take a close look around, you’d find a lot of people doing it. Many happily so. In the private sector, they will be rewarded better and those they leave behind can ridicule them as workaholics, or disrespectful of work-life balance. But like you, they make their choices. And work-life balance doesn’t have any constitutionally mandated definition.
In the government, you might get an even ruder shock to see the hours so many, especially at officer levels, work. Most IAS/IPS/IRS or other all-India services officers would definitely work 70-plus hours in a week. At more junior levels, your police SHO will be at work all seven days of the week.
In earlier stages of their careers, district magistrates, SPs, trial court judges, tax assessment officers and government hospital doctors will actually average around that dreaded 90 hours in a week.
You can find them at work on the weekends, and they will be roused often enough at night if something awful happens—which can range from a murder or a riot to an unexpected VVIP visit. Even in New Delhi and in the state capitals, senior civil servants and cops work longer days and weeks than most of us.
The most expensive doctors in our seven-star hospitals will keep Subrahmanyan-like timings. In the public hospital emergency wards, you find young doctors working consecutive shifts, often stealing just a couple of hours of sleep in a room on the side.
Lots and lots of people do work frightfully hard and the reason I bring this example last is simply because I was worried some of you might hit me with: oh, so you also throw in the “but there are troops on the borders” line. The fact, however, is that there are troops and officers on the border and in operational areas who see no leisure, just constant duty and risk, waiting for just that two-month annual leave. That is, unless one of our neighbours decides to have it cancelled. Tens of millions of Indians work really long, and in most cases, deeply fulfilling hours.
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In any case, this Murthy-Subrahmanyan kind of talk is not meant for their blue-collar workers. They have their shifts and fixed hours. It’s for the manager, engineers, the well-rewarded white-collar elite. But, even the poor, blue-collar Indians by and large are hardworking, love their families and will sacrifice much for them. Check out the security guards in your workplaces and gated colonies/buildings. All work at least one-and-a-half shift, if not two, invariably six days a week (that makes it 78 hours) and often all seven days, which makes it 91. Is it a good thing? Who are you and I to decide. Out of misplaced goodness, if you asked one to work only one shift and five days a week for work-life balance, they will tell you “then, sir/madam, what will I save and send home?” Talk to your Uber driver or Zomato delivery person next.
It is easy to beat up on the corporates. But a society that does not give its entrepreneurs, wealth- and job-creators love and respect, is doomed to be frozen in a low-middle-income hole. That’s where India is now located, with a $2,800 per capita income. If it has to reach 10,000 and therefore the middle-income status in the next 15-20 years (it will still be two-thirds of where China is today), a lot of Indians will need to work very long and productive hours. Like the Japanese and the Germans did post-World War-II, Koreans all along, the Chinese, and the Vietnamese now. Of course, in the process, they will build wealth and a better life for themselves and their families. For every individual angered by the call to these long hours, you will find millions desperate for jobs, especially of this quality.
And finally, once mass anger—in this case mass elite anger—takes over an argument, facts are forgotten, twisted, half-deleted. This is a case of all of the three. Much of all anger, ridicule and memes are triggered by what’s attributed to Subrahmanyan: “for how long can you stare at your wife.” It does sound so awfully misogynist. Then check what he said in full: “for how long can you stare at your wife, or a wife stare at her husband”. I am sharing the video link with you. Inappropriate still, may be, especially because no Donald Trump has yet banished political correctness here, but misogynist, no. However, this is in the folklore now, and folklore is the history in the post-truth world.
Disclaimer: N.R. Narayana Murthy is an investor in ThePrint. You can read our full list of investors here.
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Shekhar, you missed this one by a wide margin. Exhortations of long hours on part of these tycoons are extremely self serving to say the least.
Take infosys- it is a software / IT services company whose revenue relies on billing for resources. Indy for all its hype has not a single software app to speak of.
And the derision evident in the L&T guy’s tone is asinine.
There is ample research which shows that productivity cannot be sustained for long hours except in short bursts – sat a new product release cycle. Keeping people chained to the desk makes the same task stretch in hours.
Lastly, for younger workers and newcomers, rather than giving a demand for long hours. Empower them and throw a challenge their way to rise up, learn and deliver.
Hardwork is the most basic requirement if a person wishes to move ahead in life. However, hardwork must also be balanced with the duties and responsibilities towards one’s family. Dropping children off at school and picking them up, getting the groceries, cooking and other such sundry activities also count as work.
Just because a person is not getting paid to do such work does not mean that these activities do not constitute work.
For corporates, a 10 to 12 hour work culture is the norm. This easily translates into 60+ hour week.
Most young people are okay with working 90 hours a week. But in that case they expect payment for the overtime. It is a very just expectation and cannot be faulted. Indian corporates are tight-fisted and miserly when it comes to payment to employees.
The senior management at corporates award themselves millions in salary increments and bonus but the junior employees get a pittance with no payment for overtime.
In this situation, it is very easy for a person to get demoralised and feel exploited.
The outrage is outrageous because we do not have newspaper editors coming out writing oped’s for us.
It is outrageous because it is backed with irrational reasoning of nation building. Did Japan or Germany are where they are only because they worked longer hours after the wars ?? Does working for long hours solve all the other obstacles in nation building ?
The outrage is outrageous because in defending the irrationality of the argument a celebrated and experienced editor like you has resorted to comparing corporate jobs with All India Services on one hand and Security Guards on the other.
Perhaps ‘The Print’ should conduct a survey to find out how long do corporate workers actually work on an average. You might find some objective and rational reasoning to understand the outrageous outrage out there.
To Vir Sanghvi, you forgot to list teachers. Teaching, correcting, setting papers and sundry other administrative work … It’s an easy 75 hour week. I remind you of this so you can bring that highly ignored profession into the ‘retrievable’ slot of your mind. Cheers.
Sure thing. I would gladly work long hours if that means I get paid overtime. But that doesn’t exactly happen in India, does it? My father worked hard and it had consequences. He was paid pennies for it and his health has been ruined and all that hard work didn’t pay off. Don’t make excuses for this nonsense. There’s more to life than work.
Investment bankers work incredibly hard. Once our son in Singapore worked so late in the office, returned a couple of hours later, forgot to shave. His boss gently told him that would not fly.
Dear Shekhar sir please a few questions,
1. Why does Infosys has 3 months notice period when the moto is, if you don’t like it here just go somewhere else?
2. Why does Infosys freezes pay hikes when its attrition rate goes down but start them back when job market for software engineering hots up? Does lower attrition rate equals less employee productivity?
If Murthy really thinks that working 70 hours are required to make India great then why did his daughter leave India instead of staying here, working 70 hours a week and creating another revolutionary company like Infosys to make India even greater? Basically what you mean here is that middle class kids should keep working hard like their parents but rich kids should cool off.
There is another thing that you just don’t realize. Infosys’ product is not cutting software engineering that will transform India. The product that it offers to the world is Software engineers available at a price cheaper than slavery in America. If you think that is all Indians have to offer in this world economy, great, but say that out loud instead of hiding behind words like ‘look at their market cap, you people should not raise your voice against these rich people’.
I dare to say that this piece has appeared in the print only because Murthy is an investor here ( the article title and position as well)
and the article is a horrendous example of – how the capitalist are going to save their masters at any cost and reinforce illogical, oppressive thoughts of capitalists and capitalism.
someone is entitled to fed on their greed ( include country too in such cases), you can explore Linkedin( as if all country resources are thier assets and they are our mai baap). the real life is cruel and should be cruel. Our Mai Baap has worked hard to provide us the cool outrage. With poor excuses like look around yourself, everywhere there is an oppressed earning with their heads down, and how dare you to keep your head high against our dear and entitled capitalist!
And this is coming from a journalist who knows how to play on both sides to keep his privilege intact! As well as from a generation who okayed slavery. Nice and yet erratic and not so intelligent save of your bosses, Shekhar Ji!
The.supporterss of bonded labour will support jobs where overtime is not payable and la our laws are noj existant. Why stop at 90hrs, don’t have family and life work 20hrs daily.
Exactly this! 70,80,90 these are figurative numbers. Crux is get to work. Most people complaining are potentially mid-low performers. Their whole thinking revolves around “I can’t, so I will criticize those who can”. Same people won’t extend a thought to the workers at home – their daily helps. On LinkedIn, I came across the profile of a girl who was seething with anger. She is in early 20’s, still a student and has no work experience. Pray tell me, what do people like her know about a real career? She will, in due course but isn’t there yet. And yet, has no problem fuming at people who are miles, miles ahead of her and that distance is most likely going to be maintained for life. Not everyone gets to be a C suite employee and those who do, will know what these leaders meant.
The outrage is outrageous!