Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has doubled down in his rejection of the conventional five-day workweek. The tech billionaire, when asked if he still stands by his statement on working 70 hours a week, at the CNBC Global Leadership Summit, said without a second thought, “I don’t believe in work-life balance.”
Murthy quoted Kundapur Vaman (KV) Kamath, non-executive chairman and independent director of Jio Financial Services, from when his opinion on the subject was supposedly sought during a similar event around 25 years ago.
“Look, we, in India…are a poor country. We have a lot of challenges. We first have to get a life, then we can worry about work-life balance,” Kamath is said to have stated at the time.
Murthy went on to invoke Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting that since he “works 100 hours a week”, perhaps the only way the country’s working class can show its “appreciation” is by slogging away.
Social media users came down hard against the Infosys boss’ advocacy for a corporate culture where work is not a means to a greater, profound end, but the end itself. The meltdown online had echoes from the last time Murthy came under fire for his take, only marked by some extreme reaction.
Another firestarter in Murthy’s arsenal was his criticism of the shift from a six-day workweek to a five-day week.
“I was not very happy with that,” he said of the events of 1986. “I think in this country, we have to work very hard because there is no substitute for hard work even if you’re the most intelligent guy,” said Murthy.
Observers fired back, pointing out how in a trickle-down system, people in executive positions benefit disproportionately from such a relentless work culture, while lower-level employees trade long hours for little pay.
Murthy, however, remains firm in his opinion, which he intends to take “to the grave.”