70 Hours Work Week - Much Debated Topic !!

There has been so many talks around the media on the 70 hours work week being proposed by Mr. Narayana Murthy (Cofounder Infosys).

This has been put across based on certain studies in regards to the country's development so as to transform from Developing Nation to Developed Nation & being able to compete on a Global Stage.

However, I would like to throw some light on the pointers below:

1. Mr. Murthy's statement has a target audience as Young Indians

2. He urges them to be "highly determined, extremely disciplined and extremely hardworking" considering their potential

3. Nearly 66% of India's population is under the age of 35 (per International Labor Organization), making it a responsibility of the country's youth to drive changes in its work culture

The statement coming from an Industrialist like him has definitely created a Ripple.

However, mention of "Work-life balance being a western concept" by other Industrialists doesn't seem to be acceptable; as this all collaboratively is a depiction to "Promote Normalizing Toxic Work Culture".

Considering India being country of traditional & family values, work-life balance should be of utmost importance except individual choices.

Hard work has never been a concern when in terms of Indian labor wherein its taken as Cheap Labor being one of the concerning factors.

Having said that as above, the points below aren't seemingly considered for the long run:

1. As figures say, already Indians are putting around 60 hours a week, out of which certain work hours are off-paper as a number of organizations don't provide required Appreciation/Benefits/Motivation in return; hence 47.7 hours a week being registered as Current Average in India

2. Such a way of working on the cost of Mental Sanity isn't a trade-off worth for any Employee

3. Long term effects can include an increased incidence of Diseases, Chronic Infections & Mental Illness

4. Requiring longer hours can perpetuate Gender Inequality at workplaces (which has been tried to come up to Male:Female as 60:40 ratio in last few years) as this will make it tougher for women to advance their career

5. Additionally, on-paper it is considered that working mothers receive support (as a lot of people know) considering they are holding dual roles; however is it 100% for real? A big No. This still needs reforms.

And on the personal / social side, employees working in Corporates:

1. Constantly facing distance at their personal / social relations

2. Less / no time to get involved in hobbies & other activities

In my opinion, work culture in India still needs to go through a bunch of wholesome better habits to a certain level to be able to show correct figures of Productivity which aren't visible (due to many reasons) so far even though working for nearly 60 hours per week on the cost of their health.

And before we (as an organization) ask someone to work for us for longer hours, we need to make sure we facilitate them with necessary Appreciation/Benefits/Motivation on a regular basis & not just keep them waiting for Year-end Performance Bonus / Increment which in-turn nowadays not so Appreciative.

One works to lead a good, healthy and happy life with family and society. Hence, balance is a must. There are reasons behind working schedule to be 8 hours per day. When this limit is crossed, all other aspects of life are adversely affected.

Human being should be treated as the "most important resource", not just like other lifeless resources. After all, all the trade, business and industrial activities are run for human beings, not to ruin human beings.