Infosys founder Narayan Murthy in a recent YouTube show with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai drew sharp criticism after Narayana Murthy mentioned that today’s youth must work for 70 hours a week to help India compete with developed countries like China.
In the podcast, Murthy and former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai discussed a variety of subjects, including technology, building nations, and his Rs 5.62 lakh crore company Infosys. He claimed that because India has some of the lowest rates of work productivity in the world, its young people will need to work longer hours to keep up with nations like China, just as Germany and Japan accomplished after World War II.
"We won't be able to catch up with those nations that have achieved great strides unless we increase work productivity, lower government corruption to some extent—we've been reading about it, but I don't know the reality—and shorten the time it takes for our bureaucracy to make decisions," Murthy said. "The youth of the nation," he said, "needed to declare, "This is my country. I would like to work 70 hours a week".
Soon after the show aired, it became viral quickly. Many people highlighted how IT companies in India have become with their work culture where employees are expected to work for 70 hours a week but the salary is kept the same.
Many people also spoke about how working for 70 hours a week will drain any employee physically, and mentally and that they will have no personal time for family and self.
Now, let's talk about the big question - Is it feasible to work 70 hours a week? Forbes has come out with the “World’s Best Employers” report and among the top 15 best tech companies to work, no one has a requirement to work for 70 hours.
Here is a list of the 15 best tech companies of 2023, as per Forbes
Samsung Electronics: Official work hours are 45 hours a week.
Microsoft: The minimum requirement is around 40 hours a week.
Alphabet: 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.
Apple: 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.
IBM: 8 hours a day.
Adobe: 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.
Cisco Systems: As per a statement, "Working hours should not exceed the maximum set by local by law. Further, a workweek should not be more than 60 hours per week, including overtime, except in emergency or unusual situations, and all overtime must be voluntary. Workers should not work more than 6 consecutive days without at least one day of rest.”
Dell Technologies: 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.
PayPal: 8 hours a day. However, some employees reported that it's usual to work around 9 hours a day.
Sony: 9 hours a day and 45 hours a week.
Intel: 40 hours a week is the minimum expectation.
Siemens: Anywhere between 40 to 50 hours a week
Amazon: A minimum of 40 hours a week is required.
Netflix: 8 hours or less and there’s no 9 to 5 schedule.
Oracle: 8 hours or less with a minimum requirement of 20 hours a week.
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