(MENAFN- Live Mint) Indian corporates and startups are dealing with the hot topic of the work-life balance debate. Certain industry professions advocate working long hours and putting in the effort to succeed, while others support employees' efforts to improve their quality of life by working fewer hours.
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Starting from Narayan Murthy, the Founder of the Indian IT major firm Infosys Ltd., to Adani Group Founder and Chairman Gautam Adani. The latest among the top industry honchos is Larsen and Toubro 's Chairman, SN Subrahmanyan, who said he regrets not making employees work on their Sundays.
“I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays,” said the L&T executive in an undated video which emerged on the social media platform Reddit.
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1. Infosys Founder Narayan Murthy is one of the most popular figures in the work-life balance debate.
In a Global Leadership Summit hosted by CNBC-TV18, Murthy was spotted saying,“I don't believe in work-life balance. I was a little bit disappointed when, in 1986 or something, we moved from a six-day week to a five-day work week.”
2. Adani Group Founder and Chairman Gautam Adani was spotted talking about work-life balance. The billionaire said if someone spends eight hours with the family,“biwi bhaag jaayegi” (spouse will leave).
He also said that work-life balance is maintained when you do things you like to do, Mint reported earlier.
“Your work-life balance should not be imposed on me or vice versa,” said Adani, underscoring that focusing on someone else's work-life balance strategy might not be advisable.
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3. Construction major Larsen and Toubro's Chairman SN Subrahmanyan responded with his wit when asked about why Larsen & Toubro is a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. He supported the 90-hour work week narrative which people should follow to be“on top of the world.”
“What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife?” questioned Subrahmanyan, and said,“Come on, get to the office and start working.”
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4. Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal also supported the working long hours narrative and said that the concept of having Saturday and Sunday a holiday is a“Western import”, which has gained traction due to the industrial revolution.
“In India, we never had Saturdays and Sundays; we had the lunar calendar, and we had holidays based on that,” said Aggarwal.“We had one or two days monthly,” he said.
5. One of the most viral comments came from Shark Tank India Judge and Executive Director - India Business of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Namita Thapar . Thapar pointed out that salaried employees' performance and work culture could not be compared to that of the founders.
“It's different for employees,” said Namita Thapar on the Humans of Bombay podcast.“This is a crock of bull****. Pardon my language. I completely disagree,” she said.
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