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Weekends Were a Mistake, Says Infosys Co-founder Narayana Murthy (theregister.com) 257

Infosys founder Narayana Murthy has tripled down on his previous statements that 70-hour work weeks are what's needed in India and revealed he also thinks weekends were a mistake. From a report: Speaking on Indian TV channel CNBC-TV18 at the Global Leadership Summit in Mumbai last week Murthy once again declared he did not "believe in work-life balance." "I have not changed my view; I will take this with me to my grave," he asserted .

The argument from Murthy, and like-minded colleagues he quotes, is that India is a poor country that has work to do improving itself. Work-life balance can wait. The Infosys founder held prime minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet up as an example of proper workaholics, claiming the PM toils for 100 hours a week, and suggested that not following suit demonstrates a lack of appreciation. "Frankly I was a little bit disappointed in 1986 when we moved from a six-day week to a five-day week," he added.

"I was not very happy with that. I think in this country, we have to work very hard because there is no substitute for hard work even if you're the most intelligent guy," he said to an appreciative audience and laughing news anchor Shereen Bhan. Murthy claimed he himself worked six and a half days a week until retirement, typically 14 hours and 10 minutes a day, clocking on at 6:20 AM before downing tools at 8:30 PM.

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Weekends Were a Mistake, Says Infosys Co-founder Narayana Murthy

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  • Let me guess (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sit1963nz ( 934837 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:17PM (#64954531)
    He is also in favour of slavery.
    • Re:Let me guess (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Pseudonymous Powers ( 4097097 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:19PM (#64954535)
      Slavers always were, and always will be. Most of the social problems in the world are caused by rich people inventing new forms of slavery.
      • Re:Let me guess (Score:4, Insightful)

        by hwstar ( 35834 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:12PM (#64954783)

        That and they slowly wrap their tentacles around those running the government and get what they want.

      • by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:13PM (#64954793)

        Slavers always were, and always will be. Most of the social problems in the world are caused by rich people inventing new forms of slavery.

        Michael Che on SNL Weekend Update [youtube.com] last weekend:

        Elon Musk's new Department of Government Efficiency posted a job listing saying that they are looking for people willing to work 80 plus hours a week for no money.

        But you can't be surprised that the white African guy's first idea is slavery.

        • Re:Let me guess (Score:5, Insightful)

          by gnasher719 ( 869701 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @07:17PM (#64955921)
          The reality is that someone working in this position for free will be able to collect ten times more money in bribes.
          • Re:Let me guess (Score:5, Insightful)

            by ThumpBzztZoom ( 6976422 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2024 @10:37AM (#64957357)

            You misunderstand the "work for no pay" tactic. It's not so you can collect bribes. It's the same reason the big banks have lengthy unpaid internships for all the positions that lead to upper management.

            It ensures that the only people who will ever be involved in decision making are only from affluent families.

            Living on a strict budget will cost about $50K per year in NYC. DC isn't far behind. For a 2 year internship, you'll need at least $100K in cash, right out of college. And they will work you 80 hour a week to guarantee you can't get outside income.

            This allows people who have had every advantage for success to look back and determine that people who don't have money are clearly lazy, look how easy it was for them! Sure, they understand what the poor go through, because they had to live on ramen for a couple of weeks too (from Ippudo on the West side, of course, because they have a better sake selection then at Naruto), but anyone could do what they did.

            They want to ensure the person in this position has no real need to take a bribe. They'll probably take them anyway, but they don't need to.

      • Most of the social problems in the world are caused by rich people inventing new forms of slavery.

        My observation is that people that speak foolishly like Narayana Murthy[*] never mean to apply their insanity to themselves, but to visit the suffering unto others. The simple, but unworkable solution to that is to subject the originators of these suggestions to their own words, or, if one desires to be merciful, public beatings to discourage others of like minds.

        * And most conservative "thinkers".

    • He' just angry that his stock price slipped from it's high a couple of years ago, so now he's gonna crack the whip....

    • India doesn't have slave, they have Dalits. They're much better because in the modern caste system, Dalits aren't people so treating them badly is ok. You can in perfectly good conscience deprive hundreds of millions of Dalits of drinkable water and functional waste removal since it's ok if their babies die of dysentery. They'll just make more anyway.

      If you were ever against human rights violations and things like apartheid bothered you, you have to denounce modern India. I personally get nauseous thinking
  • I'd like to be my boss.

  • by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:21PM (#64954543) Homepage
    What he won't take is anything else. No family memories, no time with kids...just work, work and work. Congratulations. It's apparently what he is aiming for.
    • Yet he has a wife and two children. One wonders if he knows their faces...

      • Two isn't enough.

        Other famous industrialists have a baker's dozen kids with their distributed harem, and rarely see them, but at least that's R-selected.

        To be K-selected and never see the kids is a terrible strategy.

        Put "I worked a lot!" on your tombstone and be done with it.

    • He's also overlooking whoever it was that did all the work to raise his kids, make sure he had a nice place to come home to, food on the table, clothes, etc. "100 hour-a-week career for me but not for thee".

      It's not much of a gain for society if you just dump all the domestic work on your spouse, so they can't have a career. And not great for your kids if you both do that and leave the servants to raise them.

    • > just work, work and work

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • The sooner the better.
    • by Torodung ( 31985 )

      Honestly, it's just a neurodivergence, and folks with that particular one a) Can't imagine others have emotional needs, b) get tunnel vision and have obsessive behavior, and c) are very bad at leading other people as a result.

      But the opinion he is spouting? It's just how his brain works. Leave the guy alone. I assure you that his family has adapted and probably love him and fit in with him. He isn't miserable. He's just not you.

      People need to learn that brains are really diverse.

  • "Work" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by brickhouse98 ( 4677765 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:28PM (#64954583)
    Yeah, I'm sure the "work" they do is very strenuous. Those fancy dinners aren't gonna eat themselves after all. Same way Musk "works" as CEO of multiple companies. Really taxing ya know.
  • Slacker (Score:4, Insightful)

    by denbesten ( 63853 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:30PM (#64954591)

    "Murthy claimed he himself worked six and a half days a week until retirement, typically 14 hours and 10 minutes a day,"

    What, he retired? Slacker.

    How 'bout this. Staff multiple shifts so you can keep your offices open during the hours you want. And, pay your employees so they can afford to have a life outside of work.

  • by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:30PM (#64954595)

    I will take this with me to my grave

    Make that an early grave.

  • One life to live (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:31PM (#64954599)

    You had no choice being born. Living requires effort to sustain it, and you didn't get any input into that bit of reality either.

    But now that you're here, why wouldn't you try to maximize your enjoyment of the experience? Rather than toil away so someone else can take a cut of your output and live like a god... Why not drag that asshole out in the street and beat him to death, then go home and enjoy some family time knowing you just improved the world your children will grown up and inherit?

    You have to do your part to be productive enough to support your society so long as it is doing its part to make your life better than if you were living in the paleolithic era. Everything after that should be about enjoying life without impairing anyone else's ability to do the same.

    • by ukoda ( 537183 )
      While I understand your desire for violence it would make you no better than him and the gratification would be short lived. Better to declare him an asshole and ignore him, don't do business with him. Those types hate being ignored and you don't get rich if no one will do business with you.
      • Non violence is preferable, but it is also a way for those willing to resort to it to dominate you.

        When the slaver declares he's coming for you, you can take care of business or accept your collar.

  • by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:32PM (#64954605)

    we need more UNIONS and lower full time hours with an X2 or more OT

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by hwstar ( 35834 )

      But you have the Musk fiefdoms, Amazon and Trader Joe's suing in court to abolish the National Labor Relations Board because they think its unconstitutional.

      I think a better idea is emigration. Young people should consider leaving the United States. Vote with your feet when voting at the ballot box fails.

      Eventually, they will try to stop emigration too. What do you think the border wall is for? The southern border wall is now going to get built. I wouldn't be surprised if they start considering a northern

    • by _merlin ( 160982 )

      Although it varies a bit by state, labour unions are pretty powerful in India in general. That's why these guys can't institute slavery like they want to.

  • truck, train, etc drivers are not allowed to work hours like that.

  • by Beeftopia ( 1846720 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:38PM (#64954631)

    I know workaholics. They have been blessed/cursed to find a task which engages and consumes them fully. They are typically highly successful, in whatever field they are in. Their vocation is their avocation.

    What they fail to realize is the vast majority are not, nor will ever be, workaholics. People can be very energetic, but on hobbies (their avocation), not their work (vocation).

    Considering they require the cooperation of the masses to realize their vision, and the masses do in fact, feed and protect them (Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards), they should take into account that not everyone's vocation is their avocation.

    • by ukoda ( 537183 )
      I have worked for two workaholics who made significant international businesses, but unlike Narayana Murthy they were both nice people. While they expected you to do an honest day's work they both respected work life balance and did not expect you to normally work long hours. The key thing was while they were driven to work long hours they realised that their values where not the same as others and respected other's rights to have different values.

      At the risk of stereotyping I do wonder if there is a c
    • by gijoel ( 628142 )
      Just about every workaholic I've ever known bury themselves in work to avoid dealing with their problematic home lives. Most of them wind up angry and bitter that their family doesn't appreciate what they've done for them.

      Nobody dies wishing they spent more time at work, though many regret not spending more time with those they love.
  • Everyone will continue marching forward until everyone is happy. Guaranteed success with this guy.

  • Narayana Murthy (Score:5, Informative)

    by drew_92123 ( 213321 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:39PM (#64954635)

    ...is a fucking idiot.

    I with with infosys folks almost daily.

    Most don't have the skills required for their job roles, and most are burned out or close to it.

    Slave labor isn't the answer..... training and treating your people better could be though.

    If infosys continues their current race to the bottom of the barrel they'll be out of business soon enough.

    • by Bongo ( 13261 )

      Is this the same infosys that's into doing digital IDs for the UK, banks, and whatnot?

  • by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:39PM (#64954637)
    I'm sure he wants to pay people appropriately as well...
  • Mental Illness (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:39PM (#64954639) Homepage Journal

    Workaholism is a mental illness.

    We got another crazy celebrating his mental illness and wishing others had it too.

    He should be posting his dysfunction to TikTok like a normal crazy person.

    • He should be posting his dysfunction to TikTok like a normal crazy person.

      I'm SO glad that when I read that I didn't have a mouthful of the soda I'm currently drinking...

  • Not the only one (Score:5, Interesting)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:43PM (#64954655)

    You think the billionaire cartel you guys elected don't believe the same exact thing. They all have told themselves how self-made they are, and if you aren't 8-figures wealthy something must be wrong with you. You are either dumb or lazy. And if you are broke, in-debt, or on any kind of assistance you’re a parasite unworthy to be alive. They keep pounding this BS about meritocracy, that your value comes from your economic productiveness, and if you have no economic societal value, your life is a waste. It's all bullshit they believe. Its hard for a rich person to believe anything else. The Bible wasn't joking when it said a camel could get through the eye of a needle (note this is an impossible task) easier that a rich man can get into heaven.

    • It's actually not impossible, if you have enough money to build a really big needle or bioengineer tiny tiny camels. ;)

      • Yes, we know all the ways that people have come up with to try to work around what that verse means. Fact is, it was said for a purpose and is clear. Of course each wealthy person thinks they are the exception, in which case we have to ask why was the statement made in the first place if people can weasel your way out of it. A standard camel and a standard needle, the meaning is clear. Ironically the same people trying to weasel out of that line (many of them preachers) are the ones saying the Bible should

        • Boy, I sure am glad you cleared that up for me. I definitely wasn't *obviously* speaking tongue-in-cheek or anything. :smh, lol:

  • by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:49PM (#64954679)

    “Hello Peter, whats happening? Ummm, I’m gonna need you to go ahead come in tomorrow. So if you could be here around 9 that would be great, mmmk oh oh! and I almost forgot ahh, I’m also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday too, kay. We ahh lost some people this week and ah, we sorta need to play catch up."

  • by KalvinB ( 205500 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:51PM (#64954689) Homepage

    ... to work 70 hours.

    I've historically gone beyond 40 hours per week, but I was paid for every single one of them. It's how I got ahead before my salary got high enough that 40 is enough.

    What he wants is to pay people for 40 hours and then have them double their hours for no additional compensation.

    People certainly can find another 30 hours to get paid if they want to. But that isn't what this is.

    • What if you could just not pay them and keep them employed, just give them housing and food, appropritate to their station, and just see what happens? We could eliminate homelessness and joblessness in just a few weeks.

  • by Lavandera ( 7308312 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:52PM (#64954691)

    I would be perfectly happy with 1/7th of his wealth.

    I am ready to work 1 day per week for that.

  • by demon driver ( 1046738 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:52PM (#64954695) Journal

    But as long as being out of work is worse than even the worst job and no one really questions the system, wage slavery is here to stay.

  • who retired at 65.
  • He's certainly not going to be winning over his employees, so I'm curious who he's trying to impress with his "India is a poor country and thus requires workers to sacrifice their happiness and health" rhetoric.

    • Politicians.
      He's praising them for working so hard to get where they are, while saying all everyone else needs to do is work harder, so they too can be successful like him and the politicians.

  • by jerryjnormandin ( 1942378 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:02PM (#64954745)
    If there's someone who needs to contract a nasty disease it's the CEO of InfoSys. That will teach him what he needs to know about work/life balance. It's would be like Scrooge... If this is how the dude lives his life then he won't have anyone visiting him at the hospital. What a jerk. I value time with my wife and family, friends, going on road trips, flying model aircraft. We don't live to work. We work to live. That means .. life/work balance.
  • by Koreantoast ( 527520 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:08PM (#64954763)
    "Weekends were a mistake... hey wait a minute, why are all you people trying to emigrate to Western nations? Why aren't our best and brightest who left immigrating back to slave away for me?"
  • by doc1623 ( 7109263 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:09PM (#64954771)

    These companies have brought Indian workers rights or lack-thereof to the U.S. Through fraud they have taken over H1-B in IT. That's the reason it's almost all Indian now, as opposed to used to be. I've worked for one of these companies and it was awful. It was contract but "salary". They have basically changed salary from a desired type of pay to the worst type of pay. You are never off work, even on vacation and in my IT department, in a major U.S. Bank. You were supposed to expect to be called 24/7 at least several times a week, if not 10 or more, when you were "off" work. Forget sleep, much less work/life balance.

    Please get these Indian Head Hunter companies out of the U.S. Unless you want fraud prevalent in IT, finger pointing and no workers rights.

  • they're coming for your weekends. Here in America we just put guys like this in charge of all 3 branches of government too.

    I don't know if we're gonna get a chance to fix this mess. It just comes down to how fast the incoming administration consolidates power.

    One thing I know, we fucked around, and we're about to find out. Tariffs will cause inflation, there will be interest rate hikes to counter that inflation, and that'll lead to mass layoffs. Because that's literally how Interest rate hikes work.
  • by TheStatsMan ( 1763322 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:20PM (#64954835)

    that gave someone like this a voice and a lot of power were a mistake.

  • by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:38PM (#64954929)
    ...for Monty Python: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] ("The Yorkshiremen" Running time: 0:03:13)

    Work 80 hours a week for no pay? Luxury! When I were a lad we used to work 26 hours a day, 8 days a week, & pay the company for the privilege of working for 'em!
  • ...you love the work and voluntarily choose long hours.
    Long hours are counterproductive if managers force employees to do work they hate. They do it poorly, either out of protest or because of fatigue

  • typically 14 hours and 10 minutes a day

    Sounds like those daily 10 minutes were to unclench his anal sphincter - perhaps hoping not to be so full of shit as others might perceive him.

  • Murthy claimed he himself worked six and a half days a week until retirement..

    Woah, hold up. Retirement? What kind of quitter shit-talk is that?

    Best get your ass back to work. Six and a half days a week. Take that to your (early) grave, or be called the worlds biggest hypocrite.

  • For decades, India had a six day work week. It remained a poverty stricken cesspool. And Murthy's answer to fix this problem is, "Go back to a six day work week...or maybe seven!"

    Either this guy is a special kind of stupid, or he wants to go back to having slaves rather than employees.

  • Murthy claimed he himself worked six and a half days a week until retirement

    Wait, retirement? Surely, for the good of India, he should have worked until he died. Or even better, worked until he was no longer a net benefit, then eliminated himself as a surplus mouth to feed.

  • Attitudes like this are exactly why the smartest Indians leave India, to go work abroad. Just look at Indosys. Started way before most of FAANG, but is barely a shadow compared to them.
  • Everyone should work 70 hours per week ... regardless of their financial compensation. A tech founder working 100 hours for for a return of $5 billion dollars. Yeah, that's totally understandable. More power to him. That same founder looking down on his workers because they won't work the same hours for compensation that the founder would consider insulting is ... insulting. It also demonstrates a lack of intelligence about economics. He thinks that supply and demand shouldn't apply to the worker ants

  • "...we have made a sort of fetish of... work. We see a man cutting down a tree, and we make sure that he is filling a social need, just because he uses his muscles; it does not occur to us that he may only be cutting down a beautiful tree to make room for a hideous statue." This is from "Down and Out in Paris and London", which is a book I recommend; in my opinion it's just as good as "1984", maybe better in some ways.

    It strikes me that a lot of human "work" has a net effect of making life more miserable f

  • by rdukb ( 3467441 ) on Monday November 18, 2024 @03:48PM (#64955189)
    When I was in my 20s I worked 16 hr days for an Indian companies I worked for because it was a more transactional culture than a culture driven by performance and vision. This led to my burnout and getting skills outdated by the time I was in my late 20s. I'd to retool and reskill myself in my 30s and 40s to get up the stage I'm in today. If I had a more structured management and visionary leadership I'd have been in a better place in my 30s. As I became a leader I only encouraged a culture of focus and performance in my team instead of "Time worked" to allow people to thrive and contribute effectively. With due respect to NRN, I think he's totally wrong.
  • by Bu11etmagnet ( 1071376 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2024 @02:13AM (#64956501)
    Infosys founder Narayana Murthy was a mistake, say people during the weekend.
  • by SoonerPet ( 893902 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2024 @06:05PM (#64958691)
    70 hour work weeks toiling away is great when you have tons of money and can go home each day to your mansion, professional chef and house cleaner, when all you need to do is wake up each day and everything is already done for you. For all the peons under him it's torture and literally not enough time in the day to take care of all real things that need done outside of work. It's insane how out of touch these shitty elites are.

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