Corporate

70 Hours vs 4 Days Workweek: Congress MP Karti Chidambaram Counters Narayana Murthy's Work Culture Call

Highlighting the importance of "Work life balance" for good social order and harmony, Chidambaram also advocated for a four-day working week

@KartiPC
Photo: @KartiPC
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The debate sparked over a year ago by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy's call for a 70-hour workweek shows no signs of simmering down any time soon. Recently, Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram criticised this culture on social media and vowed to discuss this in the parliament.

"Working longer is meaningless, focus should be on efficiency. Daily life is as it is a struggle, battling  inefficient & substandard infrastructure & amenities," Chidambaram wrote on X, sharing a post related to Murthy.

Highlighting the importance of "Work life balance" for good social order and harmony, he also advocated for a four day working week.

"12 noon on Monday to 2 pm on Friday," Chidambaram added.

An X user asked Chidambaram why he does not work to change labor laws and raise the issue in Parliament. The MP replied, “Will do!”

Murthy's Unchanged Stance

Murthy's comment on working hours has drawn flake since October last year.

Murthy recently said that he never agreed when India decided to move from a six-day workweek to a five-day one in 1986. He suggested longer working hours and hard work to achieve national progress.

Speaking at an event last month, Murthy said that he will not change his views on the matter.

“I am sorry, I have not changed my view. I will take this with me to my grave," said Murthy.

“When PM Modi is working that hard, the only way to show our appreciation for what’s happening around us is by working just as hard,” Murthy added.

Work Ethics

India's work culture often makes headlines, and not always for the best reasons.

Recently, a young techie's Reddit post garnered eyeballs where he talked about his company's "toxic 15-hour shift" work culture.

Accusing one of the company’s co-founders, also the tech lead, of verbal abuse and humiliation the techie also shared that the mistreatment left him in tears during a Google Meet session.

“My colleague and I have dropped the expectation of appreciation from him. Right now, we just expect not to get humiliation,” He wrote.

He also mentioned that employees work for 12 to 15-hour in the startup without proper guidance or training.

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