Ashneer Grover's Take On Narayana Murthy's 70-Hour Workweek Suggestion

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy's suggestion that young IT workers must work 70 hours a week has ruffled quite a lot of feathers. Now, BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover has weighed in on the issue and said that Mr Murthy's suggestion probably upset the public because work was still being evaluated based on "hours" instead of "outcome".

“I think the junta got offended here because work is still being measured in ‘hours' rather than ‘outcome'. The other thing is people feeling as if youngsters' laziness is the only thing keeping India from becoming developed. Funny - getting offended unites us more than cricket, religion, caste or language,” Mr Grover wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

I think junta got offended here because work is still being measured in ‘hours' than ‘outcome'. The other thing is people feeling as if youngster's laziness is only thing keeping India from becoming developed.

Funny - getting offended unites us more than cricket, religion,… https://t.co/hAai4UOgwU

— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) October 27, 2023

Social media users reacted to Mr Grover's post and explained what upset them about the 70-hour work week call.

A user said, “Junta is offended because slowly they will start normalising working 16-hour shifts also.”

Junta is offended because slowly they will start normalising working 16 hour shifts also ????

— FIN TRACKER ???? (@SlayerSystem) October 27, 2023

“There will always be a difference between the owner's and employees' thinking. The owner will be looking for 24 hours a day and employees will be looking for 8 hours a day. Since both individuals have varying income levels,” read another response to Mr Grover's post.

There will always be a difference between the owner's and employees' thinking. The owner will be looking for 24 hours a day and employees will be looking for 8 hours a day. Since both individuals have varying income levels.

— Chandra Vijay Singh (C V SINGH) (@Cvsinghfrnds) October 27, 2023

Narayana Murthy advocated for a 70-hour workweek in a podcast with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai. He said that India's work productivity ranks among the lowest globally. Mr Murthy stressed that India's youth must commit to working additional hours, drawing parallels to the post-World War II efforts of Japan and Germany.

He also attributed some of the challenges to issues such as government corruption and bureaucratic delays. “Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading I don't know the truth of it unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress,” Mr Murthy said.

Mr Murthy's suggestion received support from Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and JSW Chairman Sajjan Jindal. Mr Aggarwal posted on X, "Totally agree with Mr Murthy's views. It's not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it's our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations!" 

Totally agree with Mr Murthy's views. It's not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it's our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations! https://t.co/KsXQbjAhSM

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 26, 2023

Mr Jindal wrote in a statement, “I wholeheartedly endorse Mr. Narayana Murthy's statement. It's not about burnout, it's about dedication. We have to make India an economic superpower that we can all be proud of.”