Infosys Co-Founder Repeats Call for 70-Hour Working Weeks
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Indian billionaire and Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has doubled down on his comments that India's youth should voluntarily work 70-hour weeks.
Murthy's first call for very long working hours came in 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.
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."
[...] 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.
[...] 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.
[...] 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.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.