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Narayana Murthy’s call for 70 work hours per week has very less takers online

11 months ago
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Narayana Murthy's call for 70 work hours per week

As India defeated England in their 6th World Cup match, the defending champions lost their chances in the current ICC world cup. Social media platform X erupted with memes from fans as they celebrated the victory of India and replying to English fan clubs. In this victory celebration came a tweet from popular X handle @Sagarcasm with a picture of Akshata Murty, Narayana Murthy’s daughter and wife of Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, stating, “Father called, he was saying, that ask Rishi to make the team practice 70 hrs a week”. This meme was supposed to be a jibe at the England team but it also fueled the same discussion on Narayan Murthy’s statement on 70 hour a week work for youngsters.

Narayana Murthy’s 70-hour work suggestion drew flak in social media since he made that statement in a podcast last week. Many intellectuals, thinkers, academicians and social media influencers expressed their ire and opinions on social media. 

The founder of Infosys, Narayana Murthy, made a remark during a podcast titled “The Record” hosted by 3One4 Capital during a discussion with Mohandas Pai. He stated that to compete with nations like China, Indian youngsters needed to work extra hours, similar to what Japan and Germany did after World War II. The 77-year-old entrepreneur expressed the opinion that there is a need for a transformation in India’s work culture, emphasising that young individuals should be willing to dedicate 70 hours per week to their work in order for the nation to compete effectively on the global stage. 

Popular author and wife of Narayan Murthy, Sudha Murthy have clarified on the issue as she said, “He has worked 80 to 90 hours a week, so, he doesn’t know what less than that is. He believes in real hard work and he lived like that”. She looked at the statement as more of a personal choice on work ethics.

Question of Productivity?

India demonstrates significantly low levels of work productivity compared to other countries globally. According to Narayana Murthy, our ability to compete with countries would improve if we strengthened our work productivity, mitigating corruption within the government to some extent and addressing the inefficiencies in our bureaucratic processes.  

However, the veracity of these claims remains uncertain as we have yet to ascertain the validity of the aforementioned assertions. Hence, he proposed our youth should demonstrate responsibility for their nation by stating, “This is my country.” I’d like to work 70 hours a week’,” he added. Further, he intimated there is a need for a cultural transformation in India, reinforcing the values of discipline, hard work, and determination. It is fundamental that we must cultivate discipline and enhance our work productivity. 

Further, he stated, We need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity. Unless we do that, what can poor government do? And every government is as good as the culture of the people. And our culture has to change to that of highly determined, extremely disciplined, and incredibly hard-working people.”

How Indian CEO’s reacted to this!

Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal reinforced Murthy’s perspective and said, “It’s our moment to go all in and build in one generation what other countries built over many generations”.

Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani proclaimed, ‘We must work ’40 hours for the country, 30 for yourself’.

Nevertheless, some CEOs hold differing perspectives on this matter. According to Ronnie Screwvala, the founder of upGrad, during an interview on X, he emphasised that enhancing productivity should not solely rely on increasing the duration of working hours. The focus is on improving one’s skills and abilities, fostering a conducive work atmosphere, and ensuring equitable compensation for the tasks performed. The quality of work produced is more important than the number of hours worked.

How Young India reacted to it

Bengaluru based Senior Cardiologist Dr.Deepak argued that the implementation of excessively long working hours might give rise to a subsequent generation afflicted with a multitude of cardiovascular ailments. The physician further emphasised the necessity for the government to increase the number of employment opportunities, thereby mitigating unemployment rates and enabling the younger generation to attain a harmonious equilibrium between their professional and personal lives.

Prof.Dilip Mandal in Twitter asked a thought-provoking question: unskilled workers are earning more than Rs.50,000 per month. On the other hand, what is the entry-level salary range for IT/software engineers at companies like Infosys, TCS, or Wipro?

Karnataka IT Employees Union tweeted, “It is only a thinly veiled endorsement of more inhuman exploitation of the Indian working class. Forcing employees to work longer hours would not only lead to physical & mental exhaustion but also infringe upon their fundamental rights.”

SL Kanthan says, “Youth unemployment in India is 45%. Perhaps we can employ two workers who work 40 hours a week? Let’s reject Neoliberalism & and America’s cruel capitalism.”

Another X influencer tweeted with a video on Work-Life balance

While all suggestions and point of views are important to look at, India must decide, how to keep our workforce productive and active. As per the International Labour Organization (ILO), the average work hours in a week in India is 48 hours, one of the highest in the World. But in France, it is 30 hours per week. Moreover, leading Economists argue that only an increase in working hours will not increase productivity: technological advancement, quality of human capital and substantial public investment will improve productivity.  

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