70 hours a week or work-life balance?

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different. Coco Chanel's statement co-relates with Infosys founder Narayan Murthy's, as he states that India can evolve only if we realise the efficiency of sedulous working, hence contributing to the rapidly developing nation. Murthy stated in a podcast with Mohan Pai that youngsters must work at least 70 hours a week! The statement got many mixed reactions on social media platforms from the workforce members designated at different firms nationwide. LT spoke to some to know their opinion.

Dr. Shrikant Sahasrabuddhe

Pulmonologist and Critical Care Head, Medicover Hospital

The working hours for any particular individual depending on the profession have their own dynamic, and across the board, we cannot claim that one must work within associated time boundaries. Every professional has his/her own way of working, so they cannot be compared to one another. Timings cannot be framed for individuals. For doctors, emergencies might come up at any minute. However, I believe in quality of work rather than quantity because I think we can generate more output even in fewer working hours rather than forcing ourselves to follow the traditional working cycle. Also, excessive working might cause one to lose efficiency at work; it can cause lack of concentration, and eventually one might also experience burnout syndrome. One must work for optimum hours and be productive.

Apurva Pohekar.

Quality Engineer, Liebherr Appliances India

I agree with Murthy’s statement. I think it is feasible to work for 11–12 hours a day for a working individual. If we look forward to working with more dedication and being diligent towards our job, we might actually benefit from it subsequently. We eventually need secured jobs, professional freedom, and the freedom to keep our thoughts to the fore, which might require us to compromise a little today to achieve much greater things tomorrow. Also, the average youth age in India is approximately 28 years, whereas it is around 46–48 years in Japan, which is way higher. Considering this, Indians can work much harder than the Japanese, and even the work can be allotted easily. Since decades, India has been called a developing country. We must work hard to make it a fully developed and glorious country.

Bharat Kamble

M Tech student, College of Engineering, Pune

I strongly disagree with Murthy’s statement because I believe that working for more than 8 hours can reduce your productivity and hamper the quality of work.

If we work for fewer hours, productivity and the end product’s quality increase.

When the Ford automobile company reduced its working hours to 8 hours a day in 1918, its productivity during the year increased, benefiting them ahead as it doubled their profit within two years.

Increased working hours will benefit the workers as their remuneration will increase, but it will also cause severe stress for the individual, causing him/her strain for want of rest.

Working for fewer hours is followed globally. Nowadays, mental health is being given equal significance to physical health; hence, it’s important that individuals work stress-free and devote 100% to their job, thus increasing a company’s credibility.

Indrajeet Bhandari

Analyst, Service Now, Hyderabad

I do not agree with his statement, as we can also generate optimum output within fewer working hours, and it is not necessary to work unduly for more hours. Excessive working causes mental and physical illness, which hampers the efficiency. Lack of physical activity might cause incurable diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes. It also leads to mental exhaustion as there is pressure from the companies to fulfil the objectives and meet the deadline. Although sometimes emergencies can be attended to during work, if there is no healthy work environment, people will not be able to evolve. Many companies want professionals to increase their working hours but step behind when it comes to fair remuneration for the assigned job. This has negatively impacted the people working in big firms overall. A happy work environment and optimum working hours help maintain proper work-life balance and the well-being of the working professionals, thus contributing to the successful growth of the company.