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posted by hubie on Thursday November 21, @04:59AM   Printer-friendly
from the hardcore dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Infosys founder Narayama Murthy has tripled down on his previous statements that 70-hour work weeks are what's needed in India and revealed he also thinks weekends were a mistake.

Speaking on Indian TV channel CNBC-TV18 at the Global Leadership Summit in Mumbai last week Murthy once again declared he did not “believe in work-life balance.”

“I have not changed my view; I will take this with me to my grave,” he asserted .

The argument from Murthy, and like-minded colleagues he quotes, is that India is a poor country that has work to do improving itself. Work-life balance can wait.

The Infosys founder held prime minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet up as an example of proper workaholics, claiming the PM toils for 100 hours a week, and suggested that not following suit demonstrates a lack of appreciation.

“Frankly I was a little bit disappointed in 1986 when we moved from a six-day week to a five-day week,” he added.

[...] In response to his Murthy’s comments, some have suggested that long working hours are acceptable when you own your own company, but perhaps not ideal as an employee.

“This man has been given too much of an importance by asking his opinion about everything under the sun. His words remind me of those exploitative barons of medieval ages from whom the 8 hours work day rights had to be snatched,” quipped a commenter who claims to be a former Infosys employee.

[...] Despite its founder’s firm stance that India’s workforce be fully engaged, Infosys has recently received attention for promising 2,000 graduates a job and them making them wait up to two years to start work.

The engineers-in-waiting were allegedly kept busy with occasional training and promises after being selected for employment during Infosys’ 2022/23 recruitment drive.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21, @09:46AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21, @09:46AM (#1382687)

    The argument from Murthy, and like-minded colleagues he quotes, is that India is a poor country that has work to do improving itself. Work-life balance can wait.

    How about this: If Murthy wants India to improve, wouldn't human rights and better working conditions be good places to start?

    Yet we hear the same type fallacious arguments on this site, where a certain American user claims that limiting the work week to 40 hours is really a tool for exploitation. Their argument is that it makes working longer hours a privilege of the wealthy, where they can earn more money, while many laborers are limited to the wages paid for 40 hours. This, of course, is absolute rubbish. There's nothing about a 40 hour work week that stops a person from starting a side hustle to earn some extra money, and putting some extra time into that. Of course, the wealthy don't actually like this idea because it might encourage more people to escape from working for their corporate overlords. In fact, if we limited the work week to 32 hours, it would actually free up more time for people to invest in a hobby or a side hustle, increase their earning power, and escape from corporate America. But our corporate overlords and their shills don't want us to ponder such wrongthink.

    Just because someone's not working 70 hours for you doesn't mean they're not working at all. They might be using some of their extra time to become educated about new topics, develop new skills, or start their own business. The usual suspects don't want the working class to ponder such dangerous ideas like labor rights and upward mobility.

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by pTamok on Thursday November 21, @01:18PM

    by pTamok (3042) on Thursday November 21, @01:18PM (#1382693)

    You don't get rich by working for someone else: you get rich by having others work for you.

    - at least, that is the aphorism I was told.

    The more you work for someone else, the happier they will be.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday November 21, @01:31PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday November 21, @01:31PM (#1382700)

    How about this: If Murthy wants India to improve, wouldn't human rights and better working conditions be good places to start?

    I think you're misunderstanding something: Murthy wants India to improve for himself and people like him. It's the old joke about the subordinate who admires his boss's new luxury car, and the boss says "Keep working hard and next year I'll be able to afford another one".

    --
    "Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 21, @02:57PM (1 child)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday November 21, @02:57PM (#1382712)

    >If Murthy wants India to improve, wouldn't human rights and better working conditions be good places to start?

    Not for Murthy. Murthy will be long dead in the ground before human rights and better working conditions make any improvements he could possibly appreciate.

    “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”

    Murthy is saying it himself: India is far from great.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]