'If people want to work 90 hours, we should let them work.'
'If people want to work 30 hours, you should let them work 30 hours.'
'But they should not expect the same level of success and attention.'
After N R Narayana Murthy's call for employees to put in 70 hours of work in a week, we saw the L&T chairman feeling sad that he could not ask his employees to come to work on Sundays too.
On one side, we see employers wanting more and more days of work which they define as hard work from employees, on the other side, many studies find that more and more employees of today are suffering from work related stress, hypertension, depression, etc.
In fact, the theme of the 2024 World Mental Health Day was, 'It's time to prioritise mental health in the workplace'.
Manish Sabharwal, Vice-Chairman, TeamLease Services Limited feels, "This kind of outrage is misplaced."
"I am not saying you should work 90 hours. I am saying, you make your own decisions," Manish Sabharwal tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
The most discussed topic currently is what the L&T chairman said to his employees, that he was sad that he could not ask them to come to work on Sundays.
Was this not irresponsible for a person who earns around Rs 50 crore annually to ask his employees whose salaries are 500 times less to work 90 hours a week?
I don't think earning has got anything to do with how much you work; they are not co-related.
If everybody is given universal basic income, would we not work? I think we get much more from work than income.
We get meaning, we get identify, we get relationships, we get knowledge, and we get purpose more importantly.
I don't think it is fair to relate how many hours you work to how much you are compensated.
First of all, we don't live in an industrial age.
Secondly, knowledge workers are very different from industrial workers. A good plumber or a good electrician or a carpenter or a bar bender is four times better than the average carpenter or a bad bar bender.
But a good software programmer is hundred times better than a bad software programmer.
A good investment manager is 200 times better than a bad investment manager, and a good CEO is 400 times better than a bad CEO.
The whole idea of the number of hours worked is no longer linked to compensation.
Nobody can deny the fact that hard work is important for success. Hard work is necessary but not sufficient condition for success.
We are in a world where everybody has to work hard for success. There is no Diet Coke in life.
Can you justify asking a person to work 90 hours a week?
There are people who want to work. Human beings are very complicated animals. A lot of people work 100 hours a week because they don't consider it work.
Most writers write for many hours but they don't call it work, they call it passion.
If people want to work 90 hours, we should let them work. If people want to work 30 hours, you should let them work 30 hours. But they should not expect the same level of success and attention.
If somebody can be as successful as Bill Gates or whoever they want to be when they grow up by working 20 hours, then good luck to them! I am not sure it is possible to do that as everything in life has a trade-off.
In his (L&T chairman) defence, it could be interpreted broadly as hard work is important for success.
Elon Musk is the richest man in the world, and he does not need to work but he works maybe 90 hours a week.
Some people may consider working 90 hours hell, some may consider it heaven.
Some people consider working for money. Some people work as a source of purpose or as a source of identity.
Are quality of work and quantity of work related?
There is no co-relation. There are lots of work which require high quantity but of low quality. Vice versa too.
In today's work world, you can't generalise.
The world of work is fragmented as employment has shifted from lifetime contract to taxicab relationship.
Current youngsters may have 20, 30 jobs. People like my parents had a 35 year-long career while I will have a 45 year career, and my kids may have a 55 year-long career.
So, the notion of careers also has become longer and fragmented.
The difference between employment and work has changed.
The relationship between work and office has changed.
The world of work is changing in many ways.
If you use the industrial factory lens to the new world of work, we will be doing a disservice to the flexibility that the new world of work offers.
What I am saying is, allow people to choose.
Is there any such choice available for an employee? If the workplace insists on 90 hours of work, has he any choice?
Then, let him go to some other employer. It is a voluntary contract. It is not bonded labour. If it feels like bonded labour, they must leave.
It was only recently that a young chartered accountant committed suicide unable to bear work pressure which required her to work very long hours...
I would be careful with anecdotal evidence. All anecdotes are facts. But facts are not data.
Is there a massive increase in suicide rates in India due to work pressure? No.
It was reported based on a survey that 40% of the employees in India experience burnout..
That is true globally also. And that's true 20 years ago and 30 years ago and 40 years ago.
I don't think the world changed as much as people think.
I believe there is nothing wrong in working 90 hours if you enjoy!
And if you don't enjoy, you should figure out something else to do, and do something different.
The question is, do employees have that kind of a choice?
It is a philosophical question and there is no answer to it.
The world is not responsible for making everybody happy and successful. They have to be responsible to make themselves happy.
I would say, let's just balance the needs of employers with employees.
There are lots of diverse employers, many who believe that 90 hours is not a good idea and many who believe it's a good idea.
And there are lots of employees who believe that the harder they work, the more successful they will be.
And there are some employees who believe their life is not work.
Everybody is welcome to choose his or her path.
The ASSOCHAM study found that 43% of private sector employees in India exhibited signs of anxiety disorder and depression...
That's true for the general population too.
And I have seen the study, and the sample size is very small.
On average, mental health issues are increasing in the whole population. I am not sure whether it is there more among workers more than the general population.
The theme of 2024 World Mental Health Day was, 'It's time to prioritise mental health in the workplace.' It means it is a major issue now.
In fact, we should prioritise mental health in our lives. Let's do that.
Why in the workplace alone?
Why are we singling our employers for being the reason for mental health.
On one side, we are saying we need work-life balance, and our identity is outside work. Then, mental health also should come from outside.
It is too complicated that there are no villains here, there are only victims.
What is work-life balance?
It is different to different people.
There is no such thing as work-life balance at the population level or at workforce level.
Just like spirituality, work-life balance happens at individual level.
IMAGE: Manish Sabharwal
The criticism is that the workplace has become toxic or high pressure today...
That has always been true in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s too.
It has been true since mankind began work. Cribbing against employers is a useful pressure cooker valve.
The workplace keeps evolving and there was never a golden age where work was loved by everybody. Nostalgia is amnesia.
Work will not be loved by everybody, but work will be loved by many people who find meaning in it.
So, you were not alarmed by Narayana Murthy asking people to work 70 hours a week or the L&T chairman asking people to work 90 hours a week?
That's their view of work. They are free to say what they want. You should not censure people from speaking their mind, from saying what they believe in.
People should decide what they want.
They are not forcing you to take their advice. It is up to people to take their advice. They are not asking you to. But some people will take their advice too.
Workers are not children. They don't need protection from good advice or bad advice or any advice. They should make their own decisions.
Outrage is a poor substitute or toxic fuel in today's world. There is outrage for everything.
You mean there is no need to be outraged?
I think this outrage is misplaced. I am a little tired of these outrages. Outrage is tiring and it is exhausting and not useful.
People should take the advice and define what they call a good life, and then make their own individual choices.
I am not defending what he said. I am just saying, beyond a point, things are not good or bad; good life is an individual discretion.
Just like we define spirituality individually, we should define good life individually.
I am not saying you should work 90 hours. I am saying, you make your own decisions.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
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