Infosys co-founder calls for youth to work 70-hour weeks
- Reference: 1698370146
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/27/infosys_founder_70_hour_week/
- Source link:
Speaking in an [1]interview hosted by Indian venture capital firm 3one4 Capital, Murthy opined that India has enormous economic potential but that its productivity rates remain low.
“My request is that our youngsters must say ‘This is my country I want to work 70 hours a week’,” he said, adding “this is exactly what Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War.”
[2]
“I hope our corporate leaders will be able to address our youngsters and say ‘For the first time India has received certain respect. This is the time for us to consolidate and accelerate the progress and for doing that we need to work very hard; we need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity.”
[3]
[4]
Working those extreme hours, he added, will define a culture that ultimately improves India’s government by setting an example.
“Our culture has to change to that of highly determined extremely disciplined and extremely hardworking people, and that transformation has to come to youngsters because youngsters from a significant majority of our population at this point,” he added.
[5]
He added his view that long working hours will help to propel India to become one of the world’s top two economies in coming decades.
“Performance leads to recognition, recognition leads to respect and respect leads to power,” he said, citing China as a “great example” of that progression.
“So therefore, my request to all the wonderful youth of this country is that realize this and work twelve-hour days for the next 20 years, 50 years whatever it is, so that India to becomes a number one nation or number two nation in terms of its GDP.”
[6]Infosys founder slams working from home, side hustles, as slowing India's growth
[7]India's – and Infosys's – favorite son-in-law Rishi Sunak is next UK PM
[8]Infosys launches aviation cloud it claims can halve lost luggage
[9]Indian authorities reject Infosys 'COVID ate my homework' excuse
The former Infosys CEO also called for governments to “remove all restrictions to the entrepreneur, to create more and more jobs for the people to create some wealth for themselves and some wealth for investors.”
Hands-off governments, he said, will be able to raise more taxes.
[10]
Presumably an entire generation working 70-hour weeks should help, too.
Ironically, Infosys – the company Murthy co-founded and served as CEO from 1981 to 2002, recently [11]reported its staff utilization rate is currently 81.8 percent – less than half the 70 hours the former boss wants young Indians to work.
The former CEO also appeared ignorant of the fact that long working hours have created problems elsewhere - including in the nations he wants India to emulate and surpass.
Japan’s government actively promotes [12]measures to prevent death from overwork . China’s tech industry developed a culture in which 72-hour working weeks became the norm, leading workers to [13]push back, hard against the expectations of overwork and the nation’s courts to [14]agree that employers could not reasonably require long hours.
South Korea, too, reduced its maximum 68-hour working week to 52 hours, after [15]falling birth rates were felt to be one consequence of long working weeks.
Yet Murthy wants India to catch up to those three nations.
The 70-hour work week plan has another problem: it's illegal.
India’s [16]Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code [PDF] limits working days to eight hours.
Aren’t billionaires and their opinions just great? ®
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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES8ZNSTswrs
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZTs16gMIZj97aYVHtb0hCQAAAJg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZTs16gMIZj97aYVHtb0hCQAAAJg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZTs16gMIZj97aYVHtb0hCQAAAJg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZTs16gMIZj97aYVHtb0hCQAAAJg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/asia_tech_news_roundup/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/25/uk_conservative_party_promotes_its/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/29/infosys_aviation_cloud/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/14/asia_tech_news_roundup/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZTs16gMIZj97aYVHtb0hCQAAAJg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/20/indian_outsourcers_q2_results/
[12] https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000053725.html
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/18/chinese_developers_rebel_against_996/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/30/can_china_wean_itself_off/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/24/south_korea_52_hour_working_week/
[16] https://labour.gov.in/sites/default/files/osh_gazette.pdf
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
>for doing that we need to work very hard; we need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity
Working hard doesn't improve productivity. Having a mindset and education system that encourages thought and critical thinking improves productivity. And with the current model, why work hard and be productive when you can make small improvements, and in 6 months get offered a dollar or two more an hour at another place and jump ship?
>Working those extreme hours, he added, will define a culture that ultimately improves India’s government by setting an example.
No, it won't. Working hard doesn't teach the corrupt that there's a better way. And divisions based upon your caste system, which is still widely used, despite being "officially" outlawed. First your country needs to do a big purge of the corruption and form a culture shift. Lying, cheating, and stealing need to be abhorred completely, not a point of shame when you get caught because of your ineptitude.
>“Performance leads to recognition, recognition leads to respect and respect leads to power,” he said, citing China as a “great example” of that progression.
Ah yes, let's look at the fantastic example of China, a country even more corrupt, where recognition...wait, what recognition? Oh right, the country where having the wrong opinion means you get sent to a labor camp. No matter your performance in either direction. A country where you can fleece consumers quite easily and the law won't do anything to protect the consumer, because 一分钱一分货 -- you get what you pay for.
Ok, let's abuse the children!
Of course we should have child slavery! Make them work 70 hour weeks for no, to little pay. Seriously, the only time I've ever seen people get rich from overworking is when they own and run the business, like some tradespeople or CEO's. For everyone else, it's just exploitation.
What a selfish, greedy, animal.
If you work more hours but don't produce *more per hour* then how does that affect productivity? I'm not an MBA (thank the gods), so how is that idiotic over-used term measured anyway?
Isn't it "output" per "time unit"?