A Pandora’s Box has been opened first by Mr. Narayan Moorthy, Infosys co-founder followed by L&T chairman SN Subrahmanyan, Elon Musk, Aadit Palicha, Shantanu Deshpande etc advocating long working hours from 70 to 90 to even exceeding 100 hours in a week. As per Mr. Narayan Moorthy’s thinking “India has the lowest productivity among all economies. Unless we reduce corruption and focus on hard work, we will not be competitive globally.” He went on to add, “So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say ‘this is my country. I'd like to work 70 hours a week'.” But he has not explained how corruption can be reduced by extending working hours.
“Musk, the world's richest person and known for his strict work ethic, believes that in order to achieve success, one has to "work like hell". "You just have to put in 80 to 100-hour weeks every week," Musk said in an interview. His funda is simple - by working more, one can achieve their target in four months, which otherwise would take a year.” But if “we work like hell”, we will go to hell only.
L&T Chairman S N Subrahmanyan wants his employees to work 90 hours a week and said “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays”. He took it further by questioning employees’ time spent at home. “How long can you stare at your wife?” he asked, urging employees to spend less time at home and prioritise work. Addressing why employees are required to work on Saturdays, Subrahmanyan expressed regret that Sundays couldn’t also be mandated as working days. But if we spend less time in home, then the home will become hell.
What I feel is, with due respects to the aforesaid great achievers, intellectuals, world renowned entrepreneurs and visionaries and other great luminaries who advocate extended working hours, that they consider only productivity, economy, competition, profits, creation of wealth, achieving quicker success in whatever they do which they think, will bring prosperity to all. But my question is, at what cost? In my opinion human endurance has got certain limitations and if it exceeds, there bound to be a breakdown and then that is the end of it.
World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) made a study on Global, regional, and national burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194 countries, 2000–2016: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury released the outcome of a study on May 17, 2021 which revealed that long working hours are one of the biggest occupational health hazards.
The finding states, “The health consequences of long working hours vary depending on factors such as the length of the working hours, job characteristics, socioeconomic status, and the individual's health condition. Overworking increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, as well as affecting mental health. Physical and mental strain of the overworked people can start from acute physiological responses such as fatigue, stress, impaired sleep, and unhealthy lifestyle changes in response to the stress. In addition, overworking reduces work performance and results in productivity loss due to illness and occupational injuries.”
The report further states, “Long working hours have been praised for contributing to fast economic growth in the Asia-Pacific countries. By contrast, the side-effects of overworking have been discussed but have not received sufficient attention. Unlike other working conditions, which might involve exposures that are difficult to avoid due to the nature of the job, working time can be modified through legal amendments; however, the reality is much more complex. Despite years of labour reforms to reduce the length of the working day, overworking remains a serious social issue in many countries in the Western Pacific region. Other than social and cultural factors, capitalism's demand for profit as well as financial concerns and fears over job insecurity from the perspective of the workforce drive people to work more. The rise of the so-called gig economy and telework was supposed to enable reconciliation between work and daily life, but rather than the convenience and flexibility it has provided, the new work model has been criticised for blurring work and life boundaries and raising demands and expectations from employers. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to be worsening the situation. A study of 3·1 million employees from North America, Europe, and the Middle East in 2020 suggested that the average working hours had increased by 48·5 minutes. For health workers and other essential workers, the growing demands for their services to maintain daily life has made them work for a prolonged period during the pandemic.”
“Long working hours have been on the rise for decades, resulting in an increasing number of people developing health consequences related to work pressure. The WHO/ILO Joint Estimate is a wake-up call regarding this unhealthy yet under-recognised practice and highlights the urgent need to address this health crisis. The solution is likely to involve change and collaboration between employers and employees, and more importantly, fundamental adjustments at governmental and legislative levels to adopt and enforce labour standards on working hours. After all, prevention is a more cost-effective option to resolve this social and health issue.”
In my opinion there are three very important aspects in a person’s life, the personal life which includes the most important family life, professional life under which comes the working hours, and the social life. The real success in our life is based on how we balance these three aspects of the life. The basic question to be answered is whether we live to work or work to live. I am an octogenarian citizen and during the last phase of my professional life, I wrote a strong letter to my CMD in which I expressed strong feeling on a particular occasion and I wrote, “If at all I regret very much in my professional life, it is that I was not available to my children when they needed me most.” The extended working hours will make employees workaholic and that will render the personal life which includes family life and the social life redundant. That sums up my opinion on extended working hours.
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