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Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy clarified on Monday, January 20, that the ongoing debate about his 70-hour work week comments should not be forcefully implemented on others, according to multiple media reports.
The Infosys co-founder’s comments last year on people working for 70 hours a week sparked a long-standing debate on social media platforms, which has led multiple key industry executives to share their take on it.
“There’s nobody who can say you should do this, you should not do it,” said Narayana Murthy in his speech at the Kilachand Memorial Lecture in Mumbai on Monday.
The industry veteran also shared how he used to spend time when he was working to build Infosys, which has now become the second-largest IT firm in India.
“I used to get to the office at 6:20 am and leave at 8:30 pm. I’ve done it for 40-odd years. That’s a fact. So nobody can say that’s wrong,” he said, highlighting his work schedule during the early days of Infosys.
Adding to his clarification, he also said that these working hour choices are personal to each individual and should not be up for public discussion, reported media portals.
“These are not issues that should be discussed and debated. These are issues that one can introspect on, one can ingest, and one can come to some conclusion on and do whatever they want,” said Narayana Murthy.
Work-life balance debate
Since Narayana Murthy’s comments on the 70-hour work week, key executive personnel worldwide have shared their take on this corporate culture discussion.
The latest and one of the most popular among them is from Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman SN Subrahmanyan who spoke about a 90-hour workweek that led to an outrage amongst people on social media platforms.
“I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays,” said Subrahmanyan, supporting his 90-hour workweek narrative.
Others like Billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani also shared his views on how it is important to avoid the mistake of imposing one person’s work-life balance method on another.
“Your work-life balance should not be imposed on me or vice versa,” said Adani.
As people on social media vent out their frustration as employees, there were strong opinions for both the side of the debate as some people support intense hard work to sustain growth while others also debated about prioritizing personal life along with work load.
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