back to article Infosys founder calls for 70-hour work week – again – claiming it creates jobs

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has once again argued for Indian workers to spend 70 hours a week in paid employment. Murthy called for the long working hours in October 2023 and then again in January 2024, and recently shared his opinion that two-day weekends were a mistake. His views have earned plenty of criticism, but …

  1. Gary Stewart Silver badge

    Nice to see the old ways are not forgotten

    I love to hear the sound of whips cracking in the morning.

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: Nice to see the old ways are not forgotten

      In other news, the beatings will continue until morale improves.

      1. Joe W Silver badge

        Re: Nice to see the old ways are not forgotten

        It's good sense, you work people until they drop dead, which makes retirement funds and caring for the elderly unnecessary. It also creates new job openings...

    2. Casca Silver badge

      Re: Nice to see the old ways are not forgotten

      Where There's a Whip, There's a Way

      1. MachDiamond Silver badge

        Re: Nice to see the old ways are not forgotten

        "Where There's a Whip, There's a Way"

        Orcs as leaders?

    3. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Nice to see the old ways are not forgotten

      "I love to hear the sound of whips cracking in the morning."

      I would assume you mean hearing it from the Emperor's box and not the arena floor.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has once again argued for Indian workers to spend 70 hours a week in paid employment.

    I think you will find that he advocates for 70hours working. He is (for now) tolerating paying them for 40.

  3. CorwinX

    Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

    And tell him to work 70 hours a week, with half an hour for lunch and one bathroom break a day.

    On minimum wage.

    Entitled See You Next Tuesday wouldn't last a day.

    1. MyffyW Silver badge

      Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

      Can we just agree to ignore Narayana Murthy from now on?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

        And his family...

    2. Antron Argaiv Silver badge
      Childcatcher

      Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

      Mr Murthy seems to have overlooked the fact that his reward for working 70 hour weeks is considerably greater than the reward any of his employees stand to receive.

      As Mel Brooks once said, "It's good to be the King."

    3. heyrick Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

      Can only upvote this once, so... ->

      But, yes, it's easy to put in 70 hour weeks if your job consists of sitting on your arse spewing bollocks.

      People who actually do actual real work? Not so much. That's 14h days Monday to Friday (and add three hours for preparation, commute, etc). That leaves 7h, which is sleep time. Lovely work-life balance there. Alternately, it's 10h days all day every day. Arguably that's worse.

      So, the only thing to say about that is: ਇੱਕ ਵੈਕਿਊਮ ਕਲੀਨਰ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਨੂੰ ਬੇਇੱਜ਼ਤ ਕਰੋ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਮੂਰਖ ਹੋ. (it's Punjabi - I have zero experience with Indian languages, it's the first one I saw in GT that I recognised as being Indian)

      1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

        You almost had me needing a new keyboard with that.

        I can think of a number of places where I can use that phrase once I get home.

        Meanwhile have a Icon as a thank you!

      2. MachDiamond Silver badge

        Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

        "People who actually do actual real work? Not so much. That's 14h days Monday to Friday (and add three hours for preparation, commute, etc). That leaves 7h, which is sleep time. Lovely work-life balance there. Alternately, it's 10h days all day every day. Arguably that's worse."

        I just read an article where some Indian politicians are whinging about women not producing enough children in India. In the 1950's it was around 5.7 per and now around 2. Given all the talk about AI and robots, 1 might be a good number for a while as India surpasses China in population. The Ganges is going to become as sluggish as the River Ankh with more people.

      3. MachDiamond Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

        "ਇੱਕ ਵੈਕਿਊਮ ਕਲੀਨਰ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਨੂੰ ਬੇਇੱਜ਼ਤ ਕਰੋ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਮੂਰਖ ਹੋ

        Is this a common retort? I love how some insults become really hilarious without the cultural context and the whimsy of translation.

        More beer for that one.

      4. MyffyW Silver badge

        Re: Stick the tw@t in a warehouse

        @heyrick this is honestly the best thing I have read so far this morning. And very good advice to any arsehole plutocrat.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Work 70 hours a week

    Get paid for 40!

    What he really advocates is a dramatic cut in pay.

    1. Philo T Farnsworth Silver badge

      Re: Work 70 hours a week

      Ya know what would really create jobs?

      Hire another person and cut the workweek to 35 hours.

      But one suspects that's not what Elon. . . er. . . Narayana means.

  5. nautica Silver badge
    Boffin

    Something like this never turns out well...

    Many years ago, a hand-tool manufacturer, along with several other toolmakers--because of the ever-present FOMO mentality--introduced a 24-oz. 'regular' claw-hammer, 50% heavier than the 16-ounce hammer carpenters have been using... for, like, forever.

    The sales pitch was that the heavier blows would allow nails to be driven quicker; hence jobs done sooner; hence savings for the builder / contractor (the astute among you will notice a distinct--and deafeningly loud--lack of any mention of benefits to / for the poor slob who actually wields the hammer).

    Only problem was that the peons, who had to do the actual work of using these 50%-more-massive hammers revolted, because the hammers couldn't physically be used for more than an hour or two before the body simply 'gave up'; the rugged individual who could swing a regular hammer 8 hours a day could not handle the increased demands of the more-massive nail-driver.

    Oh, by the way: one can still buy a 24-oz. claw-hammer...or rather, amateur carpenters can still buy them.

  6. Groo The Wanderer - A Canuck

    Even at the peak of my career and on the worst of project crunches, 70 hours a week was very much an exception, not the rule. Far more typical during those days was 50-60 hours a week, and that was only because I was a flat-hourly-rate consultant who got paid for every last minute of overtime I worked, not an employee who was expected to "make up for coffee breaks" before the company would pay out any overtime.

    1. MyffyW Silver badge

      I worked with a mixed Anglo-Indian team on the sort of project that had been put together on these shaky foundations. A talented team started making stupid errors about 9 days into our weekend-less working pattern. Rest is a good thing. Fortunately it was only short-lived.

  7. Dan 55 Silver badge

    How much work is Infosys going to get when software quality takes a dive from its current level?

    And yes, you saw what I did there.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: How much work is Infosys going to get when software quality takes a dive from its current level?

      If it can go wrong it will. That's Murthy's Law, isn't it?

      1. hohumladida

        Re: How much work is Infosys going to get when software quality takes a dive from its current level?

        No that is Murphy's law. Murthy's law is if it goes wrong, let it.

        1. Jedit Silver badge
          Joke

          Re: How much work is Infosys going to get when software quality takes a dive from its current level?

          Goddamnit - it could go wrong, and it did!

  8. abend0c4 Silver badge

    Claiming it creates jobs...

    It certainly seems to be keeping journalists in pencil sharpeners, but I can't help feeling a holiday might cheer him up a bit.

  9. lglethal Silver badge
    Facepalm

    His maths is not very good is it...

    If there are all these people unemployed and in poverty, surely the correct thing to do is hire MORE people to work 40 hours a week. Look if you hire one more person, then there's two people working 80 hours in total. And 2 people being paid. My god, they both get to be employed and can get out of poverty. Amazing!

    Oh wait, then you need to pay 2 people for 40 hour weeks, rather than trying to just pay one person a 40 hour week but make them work 70... Yep i can see where that's a non-starter for this muppet...

    1. Dave@Home

      Re: His maths is not very good is it...

      That's essentially the argument used by the labour movement immediately after WW1.

      Reduce the standard working week from 47 hours to 40, so that jobs become available for demobilised troops returning home.

      1. Brad Ackerman

        Re: His maths is not very good is it...

        That's the lump of labour fallacy, which is and has always been bogus.If you believed it, you'd like this guy; making everyone work 70-hour weeks would cut total productivity in half, so the employees who used to be producing 40 hours of output are now producing (if we're generous) 20, thus requiring double the FTEs to produce the same results. But can his margins survive a doubling of personnel costs, never mind what happens when quality takes a nosedive?

  10. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    He sounds like a Vogon employer ...

    but without their charm

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: He sounds like a Vogon employer ...

      Does he write poetry?

  11. Tubz Silver badge

    "millions of Indian citizens remain in poverty" this is true, but you don't see the top 1% in Indian spending the billions they have hidden away to help their country.

    No they prefer to get overseas aid to do that for them, then waste that money or syphon it off to hidden bank accounts to make them richer or let their government waste billions having a space programme.

  12. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    All those Infosys customers with trendy modern slavery statements should be looking at this. And maybe those who aren't Infosys customers should also be looking at their suppliers to see if they are Infosys customers.

  13. nobody who matters Silver badge

    Anyone who can cope with a sustained 70 hours a week all year, probably isn't working terribly hard ;)

    1. Ace2 Silver badge
  14. GeezerGeek

    I've watched a team of good engineers get beyond 50 hours/week for a prolonged period. Sure, they did it. Sure the thing eventually shipped, But efficiency and the quality of the work suffered in measurable ways.

    Though if a company is billing by the butt-hour, and the quality is crap, it is the client who pays. So why not advocate a 70 hour week? Sure it will improve employment - half the workers will be screwing up bug fixes for the mistakes made by the other half. And the company gets to bill for all of it.

    Advocacy of a 70 hour work week is like a bright shining billboard advertising the magnitude of a commitment to quality.

    Kwaledee is job won.

    1. MachDiamond Silver badge

      "I've watched a team of good engineers get beyond 50 hours/week for a prolonged period. Sure, they did it. Sure the thing eventually shipped, But efficiency and the quality of the work suffered in measurable ways."

      The cost of mistakes from tired people can wind up costing more than any time "improvements". People also wind up crammed in with people they didn't choose to associate with and don't get very much time to "associate" with people they have picked. That's until that selected person finds somebody else that has more time to spend with them. 70+ hours per week can become the new birth control since there's no time to meet somebody and no time/energy to make babies.

  15. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

    Hes gone soft, everybody knows real efficiency starts at over 99.

  16. shamgetz

    I assume his son-in-law was working >70 hours per week. Would certainly be one explanation for some of the decisions he made while 'running' the country.

    1. Tron Silver badge

      You spelled 'ruining' wrong.

      Being PM was only ever a side hustle for Sunak.

      1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

        Re: You spelled 'ruining' wrong.

        Probably trying to steal stationary for dads office.

  17. theloon

    He can start by redistributing some of his 5.6 billion personal wealth

    I hope the workforce tells him where to shove the 70 hour week idea.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Well, he would say that, wouldn't he."

  19. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    If he thinks we're so stupid as to not see this for the self-serving twaddle it is then he must be really stupid.

    1. MachDiamond Silver badge

      "If he thinks we're so stupid as to not see this for the self-serving twaddle it is then he must be really stupid."

      It's not so much stupidity as being out of touch. I've noticed that Hollywood elites, popular musicians and so forth are often very liberal. They get behind programs to provide people coming the US to live without asking food, shelter, lawyers, phones, etc. They don't flinch when a city (cough, Los Angeles, cough) doesn't see why spending $600,000 per housing unit for homeless people is a wee bit on the high side. Those people are several tiers up on Maslow's pyramid so food, shelter and entertainment are not any sort of concern. "Oh look, the latest round of royalty checks just deposited in my account, time to break out the caviar and champers." My mom was in Nightmare on Elm Street Pt3 and the last check she got was for $.38. You need more than one line to make it big. The people I know that have wealth come from more humble beginnings and aren't as out of touch since they live upper middle class and well within their means. I've met a few that are way out of touch and most of them live past their means for as long as their credit scores hold out. Lots of "keeping up with the Jones'".

  20. An_Old_Dog Silver badge
    FAIL

    70-Hour Weeks

    1. His argument that a 70 hour workweek would increase employment is as logical as claiming, "India needs larger-diameter in-house plumbing, because sometimes it's dark outside."

    2. I'd happily work 70-hour weeks were I paid time-and-a-half for hours over 8/day during M-F, and double-time on Saturdays. But that's not what he's planning on doing.

  21. JugheadJones

    scrooge

    timing is interesting, conjures up a picture of some indian equivalent of ebenezer scrooge waiting for the three ghosts of christmas to sort it all out! Wait some bollywood producer might pick this up.

    I think for some it's never enough what you do for them, if you put them in charge of a country they would probably prefer to be a dictator/ruler or similar.

    Work is generally meant to be enjoyable , meeting , socialising, spining off ideas, learning and also some hard work. Working in a sweat shop for a bunch of hard batting scrooges is definately not enjoyable, just a hard lesson in life not to go there again.

    1. JugheadJones

      Re: scrooge

      Forgot to say

      Ghost of past: it's been shit working here

      Present: yep still shit

      Future: nothing to look forward to , nothing changes except the ones above filling their socks with money.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why doesn't Murthy make Infosys as a profit sharing employee owned company? Then every employee will work 70 hours a week and reap the benefits of their labor.

  23. JamesTGrant Bronze badge

    Everyone works 70hrs a week. Birthday rate collapses, healthcare tanks, children grow up never seeing their parents, there’s no art, no travel. Sounds like a horrible society. One assumes this fella is capable of extrapolating the likely out working of his ideas. I can only assume he hates (other) people.

    1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

      Most people do work 70h weeks.

      You might think the average person works 40Hours a week, but you forgot to factor in commuting. Many people are investing 2+ hours a day commuting, that adds at least 10-15 extra hours taken from them and lost to being forced to travel without payment aka commuting.

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