Infosys co-founder doubles down on call for 70-hour work weeks
- Reference: 1705306511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/01/15/narayana_murthy_long_work_comments/
- Source link:
Murthy’s first call for very long working hours came in [1]October 2023, when he called on the nation’s youth to work long hours out of a sense of duty to the nation. He suggested the young “work twelve-hour days for the next 20 years, 50 years whatever it is.“
In a new interview posted this week, India Today consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai asked Murthy if he sticks by his 70-hour plan.
[2]
“Absolutely,” he answered. “I don’t think 70 is important, all that it means is that you are productive, work very hard like the Germans did after World War II, like Japanese did. We owe it to the poor people to work hard and make the quality of their life a little bit better.”
[3]
[4]
While the septuagenarian’s call to eat, sleep and breathe work was allegedly to improve the lives of the less fortunate, his wife’s attitude fell more in line with [5]the bootstrapping myth.
Sitting by his side, Sudha Murty extolled her husband’s rise to build a great company over the course of 30 to 40 years, despite possessing no wealth or connections, as the result of “sheer hard work, the grace of God and teamwork.”
[6]
Undoubtedly hard work played into the scenario, after all the former exec admitted he worked 85 to 90 hours a week until retirement. But what also helped build his empire was the domestic labor provided by his wife, who took over such duties alongside his in-laws who lived downstairs.
The interview explored the career sacrifices made by the wife who worked three hours a day part-time, even as Mr. Murthy cited her as “the more qualified” professionally of the pair.
This is a trend largely followed in India, where fewer than one in four women work formally, according to 2022 [7]World Bank figures. It has been [8]noted that formal work for women in India can be inaccessible.
[9]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) [10]notes that economies do experience gains from both genders participating in the paid workforce and can suffer when women are not included.
[11]Infosys co-founder calls for youth to work 70-hour weeks
[12]Infosys loses ten-year, $1.5 billion contract announced just three months ago
[13]Tech bros still cling to sexist stereotypes, forgetting female pioneers who coded their path
[14]Chinese developers rebel against long working hours with crowdsourced tell-all on employers
Narayana Murthy said he doesn’t really have regrets over missing important events in his children’s lives as he “always believed quality was more important than quantity.” He detailed he would leave for the office at 06:00, return around 21:15, expect his kids to be ready at the gate on his arrival, whereupon all would jump in the car and grab dinner together.
“We used to have lots of fun during that time. That hour and a half, two hours were the most relaxing for the children,” said Murthy.
One of those children, Akshata Murty, has spent much of her life abroad and now resides in the UK and is married to prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The Infosys co-founder described his long hours at work as a “puny” effort compared to the accomplishments of India's historical leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, other heroes of India’s independence movement, and the nation’s early prime ministers.
“So we should not even make this a big deal," he commented. He added that Mahatma Gandhi hardly ever saw his children.
“All the extraordinary heroes, if I could do one millionth of what they did, I think our family would be happy, I would be happy,” the former exec said.
While that ethos is fine for an individual, other nations have decided it’s not right for society.
Japan has had to take measures to [15]prevent death from overworking, South Korea is in the middle of [16]population decline attributed to its population’s long hours and China has experienced [17]backlash over its 72-hour work weeks.
And as we noted when we covered Murthy’s first remarks about 70-hour weeks, requiring employees to work such hours appears to be illegal under Indian law. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/27/infosys_founder_70_hour_week/
[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=2ZaUQVkQwggdJBRC2hUAGawAAAE8&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=44ZaUQVkQwggdJBRC2hUAGawAAAE8&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=33ZaUQVkQwggdJBRC2hUAGawAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://ideas.time.com/2012/09/07/the-myth-of-bootstrapping/
[6] 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=44ZaUQVkQwggdJBRC2hUAGawAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS?locations=IN
[8] https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/01/04/1146953384/why-women-in-india-are-dropping-out-the-workforce-even-as-the-economy-grows
[9] 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=33ZaUQVkQwggdJBRC2hUAGawAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2018/11/28/blog-economic-gains-from-gender-inclusion-even-greater-than-you-thought
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/27/infosys_founder_70_hour_week/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/27/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/30/women_in_tech_survey/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/18/chinese_developers_rebel_against_996/
[15] https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000053725.html
[16] https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000053725.html
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/18/chinese_developers_rebel_against_996/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Workaholic espouses workaholism
Only if she's working more than whatever hours you'd assert as a maximum. As a freelance journalist she'd ideally have a lot of different publications publish her work, and the very nature of journalism and freelancing will result in some weeks being super busy, others being pretty slack.
Or you know both you and the Misses could work 35 hour weeks, share the domestic duties, and raising the kids together and both have interesting and fulfilling lives, whilst achieving significantly higher efficiency results at work.
But that would require you to clean the bathroom on occasion... No, ok, we will do it the other way that's been proven to produce crappy work, burnout, and dysfunctional families...
Muppet...
Only 168 hours in a week
If they both work the same 35 hours, say 40 after commute, then there is a large hole in the day requiring childcare and other stuff. So a third salary is required, neither of them are cleaning the bathroom and one of them is working for almost no money.
If they don't work the same 35 hours and do not have childcare they will barely see each other.
So no paradigm shift but nice try.
Re: Only 168 hours in a week
Come again?
The majority of families these days consist of 2 income families. That means both parties work. A 35 hour week means 7 hours a day, plus an hour for lunch, so 8 hours. 8-4 or 9-5. With Home Office you get significantly more flexible as well.
Schools runs from 9-3 (usually), so one parent brings the kids, the other collects. maybe one parent works a longer day one day, and a shorter the next and alternates (that's personally what we do). After school care is a thing for those parents who cant get to the kids on time (and is often subsidised by the state - although that depends heavily on what country you're in of course). Or if the kids are old enough they can be trusted to come home and amuse themselves for an hour or two before one of the parents arrives home.
If you have younger kids, maybe one or both parents needs to/wants to reduce hours to 25-30 hours a week if the kindergartens/pre-school are not opening long enough to accommodate the extra hours or the incomes dont stretch to cover after school care.
Every situation is different, every country is massively different. But to say both working 35 hours would never work, I call bullsh%t. My wife and I do it with 2 kids under the age of 6. Although we've taken the decision to reduce to 30 hours each in order to avoid the need for after school care. It's an income hit, but we can do it, and then we both get fulfilling work lives AND the opportunity to have great family lives.
Also what the hell are you talking about, that working a 40 hour week precludes you from cleaning the bathroom?!?! WTF?
Re: Only 168 hours in a week
"Also what the hell are you talking about, that working a 40 hour week precludes you from cleaning the bathroom?!?! WTF?"
Everybody (and ESPECIALLY the rich) should have to clean their own bog at least once a week, simply to remind themselves that none of us are any better than those who do clean toilets for a living.
While it's necessary to work long hours a few weeks a year...
...it isn't actually possible to maintain concentration at a high level for more than a few hours a day.
I suspect that the job he does consists of going to meetings where other people are talking, rather than working on mathematics or writing legal papers.
Re: While it's necessary to work long hours a few weeks a year...
Or just mindlessly write lines and lines of code, the quality of Infosys is famous for amongst the cowboys.
Re: While it's necessary to work long hours a few weeks a year...
Indeed. If India (or China for that matter) want to improve their national lot and their status, then Murthy and his rich, entitled mates need to focus on quality, not quantity. And Infosys have a lot of focusing on quality to do.
Whether it's code, support services, customer services, manufacturing, rule of law, public or private governance these countries could be so much better off if they'd do the job properly,
And you're going to pay me for this?
Generous overtime will be provided, one assumes.
No?
OK then.
I have two words for you.
Off, and sod.
(Rearrange to decode the extra special message.)
Re: And you're going to pay me for this?
"(Rearrange to decode the extra special message.)"
Sad doff, no?
Remember the company mantra, "Enjoy working for very little, be enthused by the size of the company profits, then go away and die!"
Long hours
And who benefits from those long hours ? Today the Grauniad reports: [1]World’s five richest men double their money as poorest get poorer
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2024/jan/15/worlds-five-richest-men-double-their-money-as-poorest-get-poorer
> out of a sense of duty to the nation.
Maybe, and I know this is way out there, maybe if the Billionaire is concerned about duty to the nation and improving the lot of the poor he could perhaps, just perhaps, stop hoarding all the bleeding cash? That's not to say there aren't things that others could and should do, but talking about improving the lot of your country whilst sitting on a Scrooge-McDuck pile of cash does rather suggest that what you're actually saying is "help make me richer".
> The Infosys co-founder described his long hours at work as a “puny” effort compared to the accomplishments of India's historical leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, other heroes of India’s independence movement, and the nation’s early prime ministers.
All of whom were notable and were remembered for much, much more than "we never saw Dad because he was always working".
Remember, for every self-made billionaire, there are a billion people down a buck...
Slavery
In a new interview posted this week, India Today consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai asked Murthy if he sticks by his 70-year plan.
“Absolutely,” he answered. “I don’t think 70 is important, all that it means is that you are productive, work very hard like the Germans did after World War II, like Japanese did. We owe it to the poor people to work hard and make the quality of their life a little bit better.”
Certain aquarellist from Austria even said something along the line "Work sets one free".
It's funny how in my opinion he thinks poor people owe him more work to better his life or did I get this wrong? How many more stuff he needs?
quantity over quality not a great idea
70 hours might be OKJ if your work is undemanding (e.g. meetings), but not if the work is something that is very mentally challenging as 70 hour weeks will lead to lower quality of work and burn out over time.
Would not be great for the family dynamic or children either (I'm sure some psychology expert could add lots of links to research articles on how barely seeing one parent can be detrimental to the child(ren))
I stopped contracting as the roles typically involved a massive commute each way (many years ago, in the days when remote work was rare) so long days and meant saw little of the family and after trying it for a while we all agreed that it was having a bad effect on family life so I switched back to perm work.
"fewer than one in five women work formally"
Well then, to help the poor, maybe instead of asking young men to work double time, you could hire the women and make a true equality happen ?
I think that would "help the poor" a lot more.
But hey, he's 70+. You don't change your mentality at that age.
Re: "fewer than one in five women work formally"
@Pascal. Ageist twaddle. 70 plus year olds can change their minds if (a), persuaded by demonstrable information, (b) not emoted at as if deaf, ignorant or stupid for disagreeing with 18 year old first year uni student who has never had responsibility. However, regardless of age, a truism holds as follows. It is very hard to change someones mind if their job/wealth/position depends on not knowing something.
Also to be considered. Some people have ideas. Some ideas have people. Lastly a quotation about a Roman soldier comes to mind about having suffered, he saw no need to reduce the suffering of others. That may be appropriate in this not uncommon case. Most of us have managed to attend meetings in body, but not mind.
WTF
He's got his head so far up his arse he could probably see what he had for lunch!
Re: WTF
I'd argue he can probably see what he's currently eating again.
Alternative view. Do your contracted hours and not a cent more. when the wheels of capitalism come to crush you bleeding yourself dry for the company wont save you. Your company wont remember you after you have gone. Your family probably will - if you've been present.
Here's an idea...
Why not get the people who the menial shitty work to work for nothing and give them the status of property.
The people who do slightly less shitty work aren't quite property are still severely restricted on what work they can do and with whom they may interact.
As you go up this dismal scale of decreasing shittyness slighly fewer restrictions and very slighly more compensation.
While palookas* at the top are free to what they will with the rest below them.
Ah, silly me - that is the crap they have/had which, if it had been consistently applied, would have spared us from this nutjob's Muskish ravings.
* [1]Not an (Anglo-)Indian word
[1] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/palooka
Got bitten by overtime claim getting scrapped just because due procedure was not followed (manager had to request it, and sign off on that, which was never done).
So.
I'll work my 8-5 slot and bugg'r orf home after.
Any work left over will be continued the next day.
You can take your overtime and shove it. I'm done with that sort of scheisse.
Revised headline
Billionaire wants employees to work unpaid overtime to make him richer
Workaholic espouses workaholism
However, I did wonder if the author has a side-hustle with the Grauniad, thus undermining the thrust of their argument.