From Narayana Murthy's 70-Hour Workweek Advice to Warning Emails: Infosys advises employees to avoid overtime for work-life balance

A few days ago, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s advice to youngsters to work 70 hours a week sparked controversy. Underlining that he has put in over 70 hours a week for 40-odd years during his time at Infosys, Murthy said these are issues that need to be introspected on, and not debated. He highlighted the importance of introspection on working 70 hours a week, sharing his own experience at Infosys. 

On the contrary, the company is now sending an email to its employees asking them to maintain a work-life balance. Let’ understand why Infosys is advising employees to avoid overtime. 

The IT company Infosys is advising its employees to avoid overtime and maintain a work-life balance. The company is warning employees working longer hours while working from home by sending them personal emails.

Earlier, the company's founder, Narayana Murthy, had advised working 70 hours a week. He had said- the youth have to understand that we have to work hard and work towards making India number one.

Alert for working more than 15 hours

Infosys' HR department is sending emails to those employees whose average working time is more than 9.15 hours a day or 5 days per week. These emails tell you how many days you did remote work, how many hours you worked in total, and how many hours you worked on average daily.

Also, the company is clearly saying that we appreciate your hard work, but work-life balance is important for your health and long professional life.

From 70-hour workweek to work-life balance under hybrid work policy

Infosys has implemented a hybrid work policy from November 2023, in which every employee is required to come to the office at least 10 days a month. Since then, the HR team has been tracking remote working hours.

The company believes that continuous overtime, irregular schedules, and a bad lifestyle are adversely affecting the health of the employees. Therefore, Infosys has now become strict about work-life balance.

Narayana Murthy's Advice: Work 70 hours a week

Narayana Murthy advises Indians to work hard, citing poverty and the need for growth. He shares his own experience of working over 70 hours a week at Infosys.

Narayana Murthy said, 'We have to keep our aspirations high, because 800 million (80 crore) Indians get free ration. This means 800 million Indians are in poverty. If we are not in a position to work hard, then who will work hard?’

L&T Chairman's Advice: Work 90 Hours a Week

L&T Chairman SN Subrahmanyan advised employees to work 90 hours a week, even on Sundays if possible. He expressed his desire to have employees work on Sundays, stating that he works on Sundays.

He was asked why this billion-dollar company calls its employees even on Saturdays. In response, he said, 'I am sorry that I am not able to make you work on Sunday. If I can make you work even on Sunday, I will be happier, because I work on Sundays.' Subrahmanyan said this in the internal meeting of L&T.

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