[OffRoadFun]

Out of touch old school curmudgeons who have risen by working like slaves for their bosses in their lives are lionizing long working hours, trying to look tough without mention of efficiency and using sexist and disparaging remarks.

Some express support for not yielding to "social media pressure". Well, if one has worked 90+ hours a week for the whole professional life, it's most likely a waste of life (of course in my opinion). In reality, he wants the slave like labor conditions to flourish in the company though evidence suggests working in that mode is not the ONLY way for prosperity or growth.

I noticed people of his ilk don't yield to pressure of social media. But there is hope, in a decade or so, a social media savvy generation will take over (as they grew up with social media) and his ilk and supporters will be way out. Oh wait, many of them are already out, thankfully! And India will continue to grow BTW!

[tsk1979]

Why is nobody talking about the reward angle? The bigwigs taking about how they put in 100 hours every week gained millions of dollars. Are they willing to pay their employees one million dollars after a a few months of 100 hour weeks?

Or if they knew that their net worth would increase by 0.1% by putting in 100 hours weeks, would they have still done it? They did it because it meant building something and getting lot of money in return.

They are expecting the employees to put in the same effort. But why not give them the same reward. I am sure the chap with a wife he does not want to look at would find many takers for working Sundays if he offers them even 10% of his remuneration.

[volkman10]

“Focus on quality, not quantity.": Anand Mahindra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUAe...=HWNewsEnglish

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by volkman10

“Focus on Quality, Not Quantity”: Anand Mahindra

Err..as far as I know TechMahindra, IT service provider, used to measure people's time spent in office and if people are spending less than designated hours then leaves automatically used to get applied. Bit rich coming from the Chairman of TechMahindra.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by Mystic

The message is that they are trying to make India a super power again and we have a small window of opportunity now at this point in history. We as a nation cannot miss this opportunity.

For an average employee working in corporate sector - excluding the honchos who make irrational statements, making the ends meet is a task in itself. At the end of the day, coming home to family and spending quality time with them is all that matters. Where is the time to think about making the country super power?

1. European countries impose high taxation and in return the citizens get access to free healthcare and quality education. What is the state of the government schools and hospitals here? For an employee who pays tax through their nose here, what does the country do to make their life easier to be productive? Can NRN / SNS tell those in power to utilize the taxes efficiently? Musk has plans like that for American government !!

2. When the percentage of number of tax payers is in single digit, what do those in power do to reduce unemployment? Instead they provide free doles from the tax payers money making the rest of the population laze around. Can NRN / SNS tell those in power to stop the doles and use the tax for the betterment of crumbling infrastructure?

3. Every entrepreneur who has dealt with the government offices know how difficult it is to get all the required permissions. No wonder we are at the bottom in the list of countries for the ease of doing business. Can NRN / SNS tell those in power to eradicate corruption across all levels?

4. Employees in Europe get to work 35 hours a week. They are also mandated to take compulsory three week leave every year. Aren't those countries already super powers in their own right? Can we imagine the likes of NRN / SNS telling the employees to take break?

5. People are tired of commuting in places like Bengaluru? Can NRN / SNS take their business to other locations in the hinterland? It can not only reduce the pressures on the major cities but also help smaller cities to grow.

These are things that need to be thought of to make the country super power - not throwing some number of hours and making people to work like modern day slaves.

Societies become mature when more people tend towards the top of this pyramid, not pushing people to the bottom.

[Chetan_Rao]

You generate revenue with billable hours. You create value with productive hours.

We'll be on track to become a genuine superpower the day we learn to value the latter over the former.

[vijaykr]

Having put his foot in his mouth, SNS has his PR team make a new spiel about working hard for nation building. As some others have mentioned already on this thread, not everyone wants to be a nation builder or achieve superstar status - be it a movie star, or a cricketer or an artist.

I am content to live in the nation that our founding fathers won freedom and contribute in my own limited way by working towards being a model citizen. Do the right thing, follow the rules, adhere to the laws of the land and importantly pay my taxes on time.

With the money I make from providing my honest services to the company I work for; I am happy to spend time with my family and go watch a Shah Rukh Khan movie or Virat play or Diljit sing. I don't want to become them as I know my limitations and okay to live with them. I am not asking my CEO to pay me 2x, 3x or 10x for the work I have been delivering for decades. I know what I signed-up for and they should know what they will get with all-round fairness.

Where does this new nonsense of once in a lifetime opportunity to lift the nation out of the depths into the hallowed group of elite countries come in? There are not enough jobs to go around in the country, and we have a long way to get to minimum living standards for significant chunks of the population and it has suddenly become fashionable to issue call for arms (er sorry, extended work hours) to solve this.

I don't see this kind of rhetoric from the workers themselves or any of the organizations truly representing the workers. It almost always comes from the business owners, entrepreneurs, or proprietors who having made it to the top now want their employees to push beyond what is reasonable all in the name of making our country among the best or supporting this kind of talk. No one is promising what the employees will get for this sacrificial effort other than idle talk. Even to get to where they have reached, most business owners' teams would have had to put in significant effort and time to get their companies to the top of the pile. But they seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that their exalted station in life today is almost always only of their own making, talent and ability. And if only their employees and other in society would do the same, our nation would start to prosper, and all problems will magically disappear.

Whether his statements were made in an internal employee only meeting or not, this misogynistic thoughtless comment about women only shows his mindset. And others echoing it with more mindless comments around why Deepika or Kangana should have responded to it shows how much they think of their wives or other in their lives.

I plan to continue to do hold up my end of the bargain as a dedicated, committed employee of the company and do the hours that are reasonable for the amounts I am paid. Of course, there will be exceptions when stretch is needed, and most employees are always willing to do that once they are honestly communicated about the situation. Been there, done that countless times.

And on Sunday, yes, the plan is to stare at my wife to heart's content

[xcentrk]

Originally Posted by Mystic

The statements by L&T and Infosys heads on working hours have been misinterpreted in million ways by everyone. I will not be surprised if such statements by other heads of corporations become very frequent going forward until we as Indians get the message. The message is that they are trying to make India a super power again and we have a small window of opportunity now at this point in history. We as a nation cannot miss this opportunity.

This is by far the funniest explanation I have heard for justifying the absurd statements made by these so-called CEOs & head honchos. What india will achieve by IT employees putting 90+ hours? A UFO launched to some other planet that we all can live after we plundered all the resources from earth?

India lacks R&D in most of the streams and I assume the government need to focus on this. Simply putting 90+ hours into coding is not going to make India superpower, ever! It only is going to help these rich to get even more rich!

[Mukunthan91]

I am currently part of the second biggest IT company in India. I have been associated with the organisation for more than 3 years now. People in leadership roles should set the tone to ensure that there is a positive work culture. Leadership should emphasize on project quality rather than quantity. If project delivery is met with an employee working 40-45 hours a week than what is the necessity to work for longer hours?
Individual Employee needs to take responsibility to ensure their work environment is safe and positive. Employee needs to speak up wherever necessary.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

Can NRN / SNS tell those in power to utilize the taxes efficiently? Musk has plans like that for American government

Agree with you fully. I may be going a bit off topic. The answer is in your post. We need more corporate heads to lobby with the Government using their influence for correct usage of taxes. We are surely on the right path. We all know, we have some corporate heads who donated most of their earnings.

At one point in time in history, India contributed to 30% of total world wealth and my hope is that we will get back that recognition again
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_India

As a nation of 1+ billion people, we have the biggest advantage of young working population. This population has to be productive working at its peak of performance to lead the world in future (how many hours per week depends on the individual). This message of need for peak of productivity is somehow not effectively conveyed by the industry heads in India. If one is enterprising and has own business and works as many hours as one wants, it is fine. For all those who work for others for a salary need to be inspired to be working at one’s peak of performance by way of incentives etc. Working at peak of performance should be done proactively by each individual is dependent on how one is inspired. In my personal case, I had been paying taxes for decades in the silver category and I receive a certificate of appreciation by Government and nothing else at personal level. I am inspired by the fact that we are on a right path to lead the world as a nation.

Problems are everywhere including super powers like USA. The industries, innovation and human productivity is what makes a country great. What percentage of taxes are effectively and efficiently used is always a challenge in all countries.

[vijaykr]

Originally Posted by xcentrk

This is by far the funniest explanation I have heard for justifying the absurd statements made by these so-called CEOs & head honchos. What india will achieve by IT employees putting 90+ hours?

Exactly. If these business leaders think that corporate employees working 70/90 hours will take India to be a developed country then it is just wishful thinking in my opinion. And why link extended work hours to nation building, teacher/guide to the world, take our rightful place in the world etc. The link between the two is tenuous at best.

No doubt these leaders got to where they are with a lot of hard work, enormous amounts of time and sacrificing lots of things including family time possibly, but their skills and talent is in specific areas/domains only. From where do they get their supposed knowledge in preaching on all sundry topics as if their words are the fount of wisdom. Stick to your area of expertise which is running a company well and taking care of shareholders who've trusted you with their hard earned money. Leave nation building out of it.

[Vishal.R]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Why is nobody talking about the reward angle?

Correct, same thing I have also expressed earlier, its actually not very complicated to understand, I think recently Namita Thapar communicated same thing very well with example of her family,

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../116651232.cms

If We look at ANY highly successful person (e.g. entrepreneur CXO, Lawyer, Doctor or even Politician etc.), they typically work beyond normal hours but the problem is "forcing" everyone to work beyond standard working hours.

[androdev]

We want our stock portfolio to outperform benchmark indices but when it comes to our own jobs, we want work-life-balance. Well, you are employed by some invisible shareholder who wants his returns whether by working you to death (3rd world countries) or by replacing you with AI (1st world countries).

[vijaykr]

Yes I want my stock portfolio to do very well, but if it does not, I can also "advise" the employees of those companies to work longer and harder, but they are unlikely to pay much heed to me even if I'm a industry stalwart. Better option is to look at rebalancing portfolio with other companies whose shares are doing better. In any case, preaching or giving gyaan is not going to do much.

But if I'm the owner or have significant stakes in the company in my portfolio then I've to likely work extra hard and longer - than most of my employees - to get index beating returns in my portfolio. Even then, asking my employees who may hold much smaller or no shares to do the same reeks of hypocrisy. The value proposition is simply not there for them as much. And to couch it as working for the larger good and benefit of nation etc makes it sound worse.

A message of working together as a team to get the company to grow as a whole which will yield proportionate rewards, benefits etc at all levels with an inspirational leadership could work better.

[Samarth 619]

Coming to my take on the SNS comment:-
Everyone wants to maximise their gain in an economic situation, one of the limited rules of Classic Economics that still hold true, even after J. M. Keynes.

Producer's maximum profits can not be achieved in a 30 hour work week, because the other company is employing them for 60, so to stay competitive, they milk every worker they have. In India, its easy as you're encouraged to make a reputation based on your hard/extra work. You won't agree, your replacement will, then.

So, why's this situation so bad in India and not European countries? Who's responsible, is it SNS?
The 2 word answer is: Demand-Supply. We're a lot of employees, and jobs haven't grown sufficiently, despite the phenomenal economic growth since '91.
If you work for someone, you're in an employee market, where there's not much unity. You leave job, some dude is going to take your place for more hours, lesser pay, or both, stop him if you can.

Don't like it? Make your own business, and employ people on 30 hour workweek. Now, you can even get investors on board, so money isn't an issue. But something tells me you won't get a monopoly and you'll have to compete anyways, so back to 60 it is.

You're not supposed to be bashing SNS, he's just hinting the inevitable. He can't force us, you can always quit and join some other company. Does it matter zilch what he 'thinks' or 'says'?

Bash the politico-religious leader who tells you to have 4 kids to save religion, bash the colony aunties who want 'khushkhabri' (Good news, in ref to marriage/ kids) everytime you see them. Make it normal to marry late, and to have mutual, intimate relations with long-term partners and to be honest about them if marrying someone else, be guilt-free. Don't make marriage and children a social compulsion, and avoid giving a tough time to youth when they ask for rental rooms in societies. Use family planning measures.

Calling our kids a God's gift, but poverty a gift by Modi/Gandhi/(insert-a-surname)/Nehru is stupidity. We made this world. Now, assume responsibility for it.

On 2% of world's land, we are approx 16.7% of the world's population. 8+ times overloaded, what do you expect, value of life?
No debate needed. THE POPULATION'S GROWTH MUST DECREASE. Simple.

PS: Before you ask, I'm a 38-aged, married professor with no kids. I plan one soon. Only one.