Narayana Murthy calls for 70-hour workweek: But how long should you really work?

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” goes the famous adage. However, if you are Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy several hours of work will make you a good employee. The 77-year-old entrepreneur in a podcast said that India’s work culture needed to change and youngsters should be prepared to work for 70 hours a week if the country has to compete effectively on the global stage. “India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading, I don’t know the truth of it, unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress,” the Infosys founder said. “So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say ‘this is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week’,” he added. Unsurprisingly, Murthy’s comments have evoked a huge controversy with not just the common man speaking up, but even CEOs chiming in. As the row continues over Murthy’s 70-hour week, we take a close look at what CEOs are saying, which countries have the longest workweek and what studies reveal on productivity. CEOs speak up Murthy’s comments came during a podcast called ‘The Record’ by 3One4 Capital. In his conversation with Mohandas Pai, the Infosys founder stated that to compete with nations like China, Indian youngsters needed to work extra hours, similar to what Japan and Germany did after World War II. He added that India’s culture needs to shift towards discipline, hard work, and determination. “We need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity. I think unless we do that, what can poor government do? And every government is as good as the culture of the people. And our culture has to change to that of highly determined, extremely disciplined, and extremely hard-working people.” Notably, this is not the first time that Murthy has called for longer work hours. In 2020, he had called on professionals to work longer – 60 hours a week – for the next two-three years to revive the economy post the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not a wonder that his comments went viral and people started commenting on it; even entrepreneurs responded to the Infosys founder comments. Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal seconded Murthy’s viewpoint and said “it’s our moment to go all in and build in one generation what other countries built over many generations”.

Totally agree with Mr Murthy’s views. It’s not our moment to work less and entertain ourselves. Rather it’s our moment to go all in and build in 1 generation what other countries have built over many generations! https://t.co/KsXQbjAhSM

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 26, 2023

Globally too, there have been calls by some CEOs, asking employees to work longer. X owner Elon Musk in the months after purchasing the social media platform had asked people to work absurdly long hours . A CNBC report quoting a source who works at the site had said, “Managers at Twitter have instructed some employees to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week.” The Tesla CEO has also revealed that he works 120 hours a week. “My workload went up from about 70 to 80 hours a week to probably 120. Go to sleep, I wake up, work, go to sleep, work, do that seven days a week,” he said during the interview. [caption id=“attachment_13306872” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] On his takeover of X, Elon Musk asked employees to put in more hours. The Tesla CEO says that he himself works 120 hours a week. File image/Reuters[/caption] China’s Jack Ma, who founded Alibaba, had in the past endorsed the controversial ‘ 996’ rule – working from 9 am to 9 pm six days a week. Back at home, Bombay Shaving Company’s CEO Shantanu Deshpande had also asked freshers to prioritise work for ‘18 hours a day for at least four-five years’ last year, attracting much criticism from the workforce. However, not all CEOs are on the same page. Ronnie Screwvala, upGrad founder, said on X: “Boosting productivity isn’t just about working longer hours. It’s about getting better at what you do - Upskilling, having a positive work environment and fair pay for the work done. Quality of work done > clocking in more hours.”

Boosting productivity isn't just about working longer hours. It's about getting better at what you do - Upskilling, having a positive work environment and fair pay for the work done.

Quality of work done > clocking in more hours https://t.co/mbEQA0TriA

— Ronnie Screwvala (@RonnieScrewvala) October 26, 2023

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The long, long work hours Currently, India’s labour codes mandate that workers put in eight hours a day, capping the weekly work hours at 48. Despite this, global data shows that India is among the most overworked country, ranking fifth in the world among countries with long working hours in 2019. **Also read: Thai media worker dies of ‘overworking’: How exhaustion can kill you** Compare this to other countries – the United States works roughly 36.4 hours weekly, South Korea 37.9 hours, China 46.1, Russia 37.8. Interestingly, the United Arab Emirates has the longest workweek, clocking a whopping 52.6 hours. The Gambia clocks in second with 50.8 hours average per week per employed person, while Bhutan is third with 50.7 hours average per week per employed person. [caption id=“attachment_13306712” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Murthy’s comments have re-opened the debate over just how many hours an ideal workweek should be. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay[/caption] On the other end of the spectrum is Vanuatu with 24.7 hours. Kiribati, Mozambique, Rwanda and Austria (29.5 hours) are the other countries with shortest workweeks. On an average, most workplaces across the globe mandate a 40-hour week. But this was not always the case. The makings of the 40-hour workweek started in the 19th Century. In 1926, Henry Ford popularised the 40-hour workweek after he discovered through his research that working more yielded only a small increase in productivity that lasted a short period of time. And in 1940, it became the law in the US. [caption id=“attachment_13306822” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] While some believe that long working hours would enable better productivity, studies suggest otherwise. Some research has revealed that longer work hours causes burnout. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay[/caption] Lesser hours, more productivity While Narayana Murthy may ask youngsters to work longer, science doesn’t support him. Research has revealed that productivity falls sharply after 50 hours per week, and drops off a cliff after 55 hours. Additionally, not taking at least one full day off per week leads to lower hourly output overall. **Also read: What new research reveals about the future of work from home** Another research has revealed that five hours is about the maximum that most of us can concentrate hard on something. This was even put to the test by Tower Paddle Boards CEO Stephan Aarstol. In 2015, the business adopted a five-hour working day, with employees working from 8 am to 1 pm with no breaks and, because employees became so focused on maximising output in order to have the afternoons to themselves, turnover increased by 50 per cent. Speaking to WIRED, he was quoted as saying: “The warehouse guys were rolling their eyes when we first rolled this out, but the biggest gains were actually there. It had taken them five minutes per package to ship before, but within a few weeks they had got that down to less than three minutes. They were doing stuff that real productivity experts would do. I told them they had a constraint and it forced them to creatively think.” However, not all jobs are suitable to compressed working hours. Scientists do, however, agree that the ideal daily working time is around six hours, and more concentrated in the morning. May be it’s time entrepreneurs like the Infosys founder and others – Elon Musk – follow the science and let staff work five hours. Whatever others say, we are all for it! With inputs from agencies