Narayana Murthy Draws Flak From Industry
NEW DELHI (IANS) – Infosys founder Narayana Murthy‘s advice to youngsters in India, urging them to work 70 hours a week, has sparked sharp reactions from founders and leaders who said that while extended working hours can boost productivity, a balanced approach is equally necessary.
During a podcast, Murthy said that if India wants to compete with developed economies that have made remarkable progress in recent decades, youngsters should work for 70 hours a week.
Reacting to Murthy’s comment, Abhishek Desai, founder of CricHeroes, said that while extended working hours can boost productivity in certain contexts, “it’s equally vital to focus on work-life balance, employee well-being, and harnessing technology to enhance efficiency”.
“The success of countries like Japan and Germany is undoubtedly commendable, but we must also acknowledge that their work culture may not be entirely replicable in the Indian context,” Desai added.
Former BharatPe Co-founder Ashneer Grover said that the public got offended at Murthy’s comment as the measure of work done still gets notified based on hours spent rather than the outcome.
“I think the junta (public) got offended here because work is still being measured in ‘hours’ rather than ‘outcome’. The other thing is people feeling as if youngster’s laziness is the only thing keeping India from becoming developed,” he said.
Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, however, agreed with Murthy’s view.
“Agree with Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations,” he said.
According to Shrijay Sheth, founder of Legalwiz.in, working long hours does not necessarily translate into better work, bigger outcomes, and higher returns for the company. “Primarily, it is about enhanced productivity and achieving the organizational goals. Especially for workforces in the Indian context, longer working hours may result in lower efficiency and, thus, impede the realization of business objectives,” he added.
Reasonable Person
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Makes sense. Infosys profits = Billable Hours.
October 27, 2023Commander (retd)
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Unless youngsters learn to do hardwork in future they can never get hardworking from next Gen. Why hardworking advise is taken differently. The Defence Forces work much more and everyone takes it fir granted.
October 28, 2023PSLONGIA
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I totally agree with Mr. Murthy . Rise of Asian dragons, including mainland China merely was from hard work, not counting how many hours a week work .specially a country loaded with privileged , corrupt ruling class with 5000 thousand year old ideas cannot compete even with the small modern society of South Korea. Mother India is crying for young people to make her great. ignore the corrupt old generation as it is the dead wait on the nation. God bless you..
October 27, 2023Commander (retd)
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Unless youngsters learn to do hardwork in future they can never get hardworking from next Gen. Why hardworking advise is taken differently. The Defence Forces work much more and everyone takes it fir granted.
October 28, 2023RAVI S
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Only an idiot would support this…don’t people have family??…idiotic proposition from an industrialist who himself must regret not spending time for better things in life like family…no need for such development like Korea or Japan or Taiwan…people there have stopped having babies….such an society is as good as dead..as much I admire this guy for his corporate governance revolution he has spoke bullshit…thanks
October 29, 2023JAYANANDA HIRANANDANI
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I have read through the news report and comments. Many people use the term hard work, only a few uses work culture. The latter has many important points. Work methods are important in getting more output. Interaction between people is another example. In India, I went to a premier public sector bank and requested a printout. It was at about 10.00 AM. The concerned person asked me to come at 2.00 PM. This shows lack of being considerate for customer’s time. Faxes, printers, phones and other equipment do not work properly or do not for a variety reasons. Information by phone in India leaves much to be desired. Is a 70-hour work week an answer to this? During World War I, in Britain it was found that longer working hours were counter productive. An important area of industrial psychology relates to this. I am confident that in Infosys there are people who know this. I learnt about it in school and in B. Tech in industrial psychology.
October 29, 2023General Noh
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Murthy does not practice what he preaches.
November 27, 2023He had his kids grow up studying in London boarding schools and bought their seats at Stanford thereafter.
He has donated $5M to Harvard and more to Stanford and UC Berkeley. Probably miniscule if any for Indian universities.
He wants Indians to do the hard gruntwork.
He wants westerners to do all the smart work that produces all the IP & patents.
In the 44 years of Infosys’ existence, there is NO commercial retail/institutional products like Windows, Word, Excel and India has to spend billions licensing it from the US.
Murthy had able/brainy subordinates to DO ALL THE HEAVY LIFTING (Nandan Nilekani, Gopalakrishnan, Raghavan). Murthy just sat on top and counted revenues.
Murthy is an average Joe and is talking beyond his pay-grade – money can’t buy intelligence.