Congress MP Karti Karti Chidambaram on Sunday countered Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy's suggestion of a 70-hour work week and said that work-life balance is important for "good social order and harmony". "Working longer is meaningless, focus should be on efficiency," said Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram.
Highlighting the everyday struggles faced by citizens due to subpar infrastructure, Chidambaram proposed a contrasting approach to Murthy's call for extended work hours. "We should, in fact, move to a four-day working week — 12 noon on Monday to 2 pm on Friday," he said, advocating for shorter work schedules to foster societal harmony.
Murthy's push for longer working hours has sparked debates since October last year when he first proposed the idea. While some supported the move, arguing it could boost productivity, many criticised it, stating that longer hours do not necessarily translate into higher output.
Murthy has been advocating for a shift to 70 hours work week. He had floated this idea in October last year. While the idea found some backers, many criticised him saying longer hours don't mean extra output. He has, however, stuck to his views. Last month, the tech magnate expressed his discontent with India's transition to a five-day workweek in 1986. “I am sorry, I have not changed my view. I will take this with me to my grave,” he told Shereen Bhan at the CNBC Global Leadership Summit.
Murthy pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reputed 100-hour work weeks as an example. "When PM Modi is working that hard, the only way to show our appreciation for what's happening around us is by working just as hard," he asserted, adding that India’s development demands sacrifice, not relaxation.
Earlier this week, Murthy justified the long working week, saying the people should work hard and create opportunities for the ones who are less fortunate. "Yes, our stomach is all full. We have taken care of our children. Some of us have taken care of even grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. But that's not why we were born. There's a unique thing between human beings and other animals - human beings can think. When God has given us that ability to think and the ability to distinguish between good and bad...between injustice and fairness, it behooves us that we think about the betterment of people less fortunate amongst us."
"Therefore it is not to fill your stomach, it is not to make your children even richer but it is to bring respect to our country, it is to make sure that the rest of the world respects India. The reason why people respect India is because of performance. I used to tell at Infosys - performance leads to recognition, recognition leads to respect, and respect leads to power. If you want to be very powerful in a group, there's only one instrument you have - you perform and exceed their expectations. Next time when you say something everybody will listen to you. So therefore I want our youngsters to kindly understand that. As a human human being, we have a greater responsibility to fulfill the pledge of our founding fathers. We have a greater responsibility as enunciated by our scriptures that we have to show fairness and justice and create opportunities for the less fortunate ones. and that's the reason why we all have to work hard."
Murthy also said that one executive told him that a Chinese worker is three 3.5 times more productive than an Indian. When he floated this idea last year, Murthy said that youngsters should work 12 hours a day so that India can compete with economies like China and Japan. He said that India’s work productivity was among the lowest in the world and the country's youngsters must put in extra hours of work as Japan and Germany did after World War II.