Infosys founder defends call for 70-hour workweeks, says he "doesn't believe in a work/life balance"

[saladbarsmash]

Of course he is ok with working 70 hours, with how slow he explains, it takes him 30 more hours to do what most people can do in 40 hours.

 

[ZedRM]

As someone whose father felt the same I feel bad for his kids.

I'll agree with this. 50hour work weeks take valuable time away from family, to say nothing of 70hours.

 

[monkeylove]

Yes he's exactly what I want if I were in the business of funding new start-up companies, but as for workers he's asking people to work extraordinary hours for regular money because they are just as dedicated to his company as he is...and that's where the problem lies. NO ONE cares about HIS company like he does, not even his own family, and he seems to be oblivious to that.

He's probably alluding to the decades where lots of people in Asia and even in places in Europe and the U.S. did that in order to industrialize, and it wasn't just long hours but even low pay.

Younger generations are the ones that complain about that because they benefited from the same industrialization.

India is still in that stage of industrializing, together with many countries worldwide.

 

[monkeylove]

I'll agree with this. 50hour work weeks take valuable time away from family, to say nothing of 70hours.

Earlier generations did that, which is why latter generations were able to have fewer hours of work.

India belongs to the former.

 

[ZedRM]

Earlier generations did that, which is why latter generations were able to have fewer hours of work.

Yeah, that's what we call progress.

 

[monkeylove]

Yeah, that's what we call progress.

India is going through that process.

 

[zulu53]

Good way to guarantee worker dissatisfaction and low productivity

Your statement is Not true. Speaking as one with experience managing workers. Workers need to be forced to work longer to compensate for their lack of hourly productivity. They need to learn that if they want to work shorter hours they need to bump up their hourly productivity. The point that Murthy is trying to get across to a what is a very unsophisticated workforce.

 

[zulu53]

Bitter and lonely old man wants the world to be bitter and alone so he doesn't feel as bad about his poor life choices.

The pot calling the kettle black?

 

[zulu53]

A simple message for India (with the largest population in the world) , perhaps too simplistic for Western country workers hence the negative comments. The workers he is talking to are not as sophisticated as those in the west and do not understand the more complicated message about productivity. They need to learn that (if they want to be paid money) that they will be forced to work longer to compensate for their lack of hourly productivity. They need to learn that if they want to work shorter hours they need to bump up their hourly productivity: but the starting point is longer hours.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Your statement is Not true. Speaking as one with experience managing workers. Workers need to be forced to work longer to compensate for their lack of hourly productivity. They need to learn that if they want to work shorter hours they need to bump up their hourly productivity. The point that Murthy is trying to get across to a what is a very unsophisticated workforce.

Studies have shown worker productivity tails off after 50 hours of work in a week, and in fact declines sharply only a little beyond this. There are only very limited circumstances where long hours such as the 70 hour week proposed leads to higher productivity. Plenty of solid documented evidence that such long hours are also detrimental to physical worker health and mental wellbeing in general. To no one's surprise.

It's true. I'll take it from my own experience that it is true, as well as extensive studies rather than your word, thanks.

 

[monkeylove]

Studies have shown worker productivity tails off after 50 hours of work in a week, and in fact declines sharply only a little beyond this. There are only very limited circumstances where long hours such as the 70 hour week proposed leads to higher productivity. Plenty of solid documented evidence that such long hours are also detrimental to physical worker health and mental wellbeing in general. To no one's surprise.

It's true. I'll take it from my own experience that it is true, as well as extensive studies rather than your word, thanks.

I think the context of Murthy's argument is that India has to industrialize faster, and it won't unless everyone works harder and with longer hours.

The basis of this is Japan, where workers (including management) worked 10 hours or more daily, including weekends, to build ships for the world. The managers, like Murthy, were often the first to open shop and the last to close it, which is why Murthy pointed out that he went to work early and left late. Whatever they required of their workers, they required more of themselves, and it took place in the public sector, too, which is why Murthy kept referring to the Indian PM who also worked long hours, and his subordinates following suit because they looked up to their leader.

The most important thing that India has to face, though, is something that Murthy didn't say aloud, and it's nationalism. For decades, each Japanese worker, all the way to the CEO, always felt that they were part of a team, that their company was part of their family (and even their family was considered the same, which is why families were required to attend company outings), and that the same took place across the board. The last point is critical because they would often point out that they were working for Japan. (Interesting point: long before MAGA there was MJGA, with the basis of success not being freedom and independence but teamwork.)

I remember one professor from the Philippines (which is highly Americanized) visiting Japan decades ago to observe how they taught Math, and was surprised by how much teamwork was involved. There was one anecdote about the weakest in class asked to solve a problem on the board, but instead of the teacher his classmates guided him along the way, and after he solved it he turned and bowed towards his mates as they stood up, bowed back, and applauded, patting his back and congratulating him.

Which I think is the only other point that Murthy didn't mention: that the consequence of such is industrialization, and with that prosperity. And ironically, the very source from which latter generations can scoff at Murthy's points.

 

[laszlozoltan]

Always trying to fool you into making them richer; don't be a sucker for them
you have one choice- enjoy your life while you have it, or regret having wasted it when you had

 

[ZedRM]

India is going through that process.

That hasn't always been so. It needs to join the 2100 century and respect it's population.

 

[monkeylove]

Always trying to fool you into making them richer; don't be a sucker for them
you have one choice- enjoy your life while you have it, or regret having wasted it when you had

That's very much capitalism.

 

[monkeylove]

That hasn't always been so. It needs to join the 2100 century and respect it's population.

Joining that requires industrialization, and the process towards industrialization involves the opposite of a "work/life balance" for several decades. That's what Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and other countries in the region went through in order to advance.

India, like most of the world, is still in that process.