Perform or Perish is a corporate world mantra with the stated objective of increasing productivity to benefit private owners. Superficially, there is nothing wrong with this. However, trouble starts when it is stretched too far and working hours are extended to abnormal limits that tell on the health – both physical and mental – of the workforce. The whole mechanism of productivity then becomes counter-productive. Recently, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy has, out of the blue, suggested that working Indians should put in 70 hours of toil per week. Why at this juncture Murthy had to spill this liquid pearl of wisdom is unknown to most of us common citizens of this country. Especially in the third decade of the 21st Century, most civilized countries across the world are trying to cut down on working hours.
Some developed countries are even opting for four work days per week. The reason for squeezing working hours is that people are getting mentally stressed or even ill due to long hours of work. The world over a clear understanding is dawning on business and administrative leaders that it is extremely important to keep the nation’s workforce in a stable and healthy physical and mental condition. Narayana Murthy’s statement is also surprising since he is not a building contractor. His enterprise, that is known to the world, primarily deals with intellectual property creation. He may be labeled a software contractor who is not known to have developed a single mass use software or app that is recognised to be Indian. As an example, one can cite Baidu, which the Chinese developed as an alternative to Google. In his quest for more profits, Narayana Murthy might have sought legitimacy in making his staff work longer hours.
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Undoubtedly, Infosys employees are well paid by Indian standards. The same quality and quantity of output in countries like the US and Germany would certainly fetch much more attractive packages.
Murthy sought to link the exacting working hours with India’s work culture and its ability or lack thereof to compete effectively on the global stage. He argued that unless India’s youth commit to significantly more working hours, the country will struggle to catch up with economies that have seen remarkable progress over the past few decades. Unfortunately, no one wants to delve deeper into the reasons for which most Indians do not prefer to toil hard. Merely increasing number of working hours would definitely not bring forth any tangible results. This can be said since the current eight hour shift is also not utilized in totality. Any organization operating in India should consider itself extremely lucky if it can extract even four hours of hard as well as sincere work from its employees. Whether at offices, factories or construction sites, the scenario is similar. In situations where there is a hard taskmaster, the rate of attrition rises.
It is the mindset of workers that has to be dealt with. Most entrepreneurs in the small and medium level perish very soon if their operations are based on large workforces. Many organizations consciously cut down on profitability by putting on layers of staff for the same job. Even the government, whether at the Centre or in any state, suffers from its employees’ disinterest in putting up the basic minimum hours of sincere work. Apart from this, Indians do not believe in the system of hourly payment. Unlike developed countries, we do not accept payment based on output. Therefore, a monthly salary is the safest and only acceptable form of employment in this country. Also to blame could be the feudal mindset of both the employers and employees. Employers want undue profits by whipping the staff to work more while the employee feels he will not be a gainer any which way by putting in extra efforts. That is the negative aspect of fixed salaries. Added to this, we have had a long history of labour laws which protect non performers and laggards.
Merely calling for a 70 hour work week is a clear sign that the person is totally clueless and is out of touch with the predominant attitude of the bulk of Indian working class.
