I know I have been writing pretty randomly, but this is a topic that is a bit close to heart. And no, this is not to trash the hustle culture, quite the opposite this is in support.
Narayan Murthy, Founder of Infosys is back in the news after another bit of uncalled for opinions of work life balance. After claiming earlier in the year that Indian youth should work 70 hours per week, the man has now called out the concept of work life balance altogether.
Murthy said, “I don’t believe in work-life balance. Frankly, I was very disappointed when in 1986 we shifted from a six-day work week to a five-day work week.”
Now before I get into why these statements are uncalled for, I would like to clarify my stance.
I believe in working hard and building a base in my 20’s. This is the time to take risks and try out new things, while figuring out capabilities and potential.
I currently work more than 70 hours per week, working to ensure my employer was right to put his trust in me along with working on my own ventures.
I spend time making connections and learning about the industry to ensure I can do my job better. I have dedicated a period of 2-3 hours additionally to focus on my side hustle.
Will I succeed? To be honest, I don’t know. But this risk seems worth the hustle and therefore I don’t mind even if the results do not match up to my efforts yet.
I have learnt that just six months of obsessive hard work can develop a person more than any college degree. I believe we should all work hard, even if that means 70+ hours per week to achieve OUR OWN DREAMS.
Notice how I have emphasized only three words. That is not an accident.
While I broadly agree with what Narayan Murthy and other members of the tech industry have to say, I also believe they speak from a self serving mindset.
Why should anyone spend every waking hour working for anyone, unless they are also being compensated appropriately. In India, employees are expected to work long hours without any overtime.
Then there is the matter of efficiency at work. Anyone who has been in corporate for extended periods will know that long hours are actually overrated.
Most meetings conducted are redundant and just get in the way of actual innovation. If you think about it, apart from a few days here and there, there is no real reason for staying late in office.
On most days, work can be completed in less than seven hours. Heck, most studies show that human beings are only productive for about 4-5 hours daily.
Then why is it that most freshers and junior level employees are expected to work long hours?
This is mainly down to the inefficiency of the mid and senior level managers.
No, that is not entirely accurate.
It is down to the inefficiencies of everyone in general.
Take for example, you run a consultancy and have been hired by a major MNC to analyze their potential in manufacturing sports equipment.
You could have the most efficient team with members able to finish all their work between 9 am and 6 pm. However, they would need to wait for the MNC to share critical information, approve certain requests, and even provide feedback where required.
If the client delays these things without pushing back the deadline, your team has to spend long hours, waiting for data which might only get delivered the next day.
This is a very crude example which I just thought of in a few seconds. The reality is even the consultancy would be riddled with inefficiencies. Team members might take more time to do the research, managers might take their own sweet time to respond to mails.
The point is that there is no real need to work more than 70 hours per week, unless you are in medical, essential, or government services. In those cases, I believe they should also get the compensation according to the effort.
Work hard and most importantly work to ensure your work benefits you just as much as it does others.
