Infosys founder Narayama Murthy, whom some media outlets call «the father of Indian IT», believes that the introduction of an additional day off in the country was a mistake and proposes to introduce a 70-hour working week
«To be honest, I was a little disappointed in 1986 when we went from a six-day week to a five-day week,» Murthy said in an interview with India’s CNBC-TV18 (via Register).
Murthy has long promoted the thesis that India is a poor country and that this can only be fixed by working continuously (about 70 hours a week), while «work-life balance will wait for».
«I think that in this country we have to work very hard, because there is no substitute for hard work, even if you are the smartest guy,» Murthy added.
The founder of Infosys advised everyone to follow the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who works «100 hours a week» and is a «true workaholic». Murthy himself allegedly worked six and a half days a week until his retirement — typically 14 hours and 10 minutes a day.
Note that the Indian Occupational Safety and Health Code limits working days to eight hours.
Some commentators in response to Murthy’s interview suggested that long working hours might be acceptable if you own a company, while for employees — it is hardly ideal.
«His words remind me of those medieval exploitative barons who had to be wrested away from the right to an 8-hour workday,» one of the alleged former Infosys employees sneered.
At the same time, despite the firm position of its founder on full employment of the workforce in India, Infosys recently got into a scandal: when it promised jobs to 2000 graduates and made them wait for 2 years, periodically updating the promises.
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