From left: Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal
Credit: Youtube/Humans of Bombay
Even a year later, Narayana Murthy's call for '70-hour workweek' continues to be a hot topic of debate and discussion across the country. This week, it was Shark Tank India judges Namita Thapar and Anupam Mittal who decided to battle it out.
During an interview with Humans of Bombay, Mittal and Thapar took opposite stances against on the topic. Mittal, the founder and CEO of Shaadi.com, believes that one should not count the number of hours one is putting in if one is looking to do something extraordinary.
"I think it is a big lie that's being told to this generation, and I think it stinks because you are not ever going to... okay this is for people who want to achieve something extraordinary in life... you are not going to achieve anything extraordinary in life by counting the hours that you are putting in," Mittal said.
However, Thapar disagreed with Mittal's stance and termed the debate as "a crock of bulls**t. (sic)"
Thapar is the Executive Director - India Business, Emcure Pharmaceuticals.
She said working as a regular employee and being the founder of a company are two very different things. As founder, one has a lot of "upsides" that regular employees don't get, and hence the latter should have a good work-life balance.
"I think for founders and high stakeholders, who make tons of money - go for it. Work 24 hours a day forever! But I think for the common man and woman (there needs to be) a certain number of hours that they are supposed to work, and of course when there are deliverables. People work longer hours, but it is not on a non-stop, standard number basis," she continued.
She also said that if a regular employee starts working such hours then one is going to experience severe mental and physical health issues.
This work-life balance debate commenced a year ago when Narayana Murthy made the controversial statement that people should work 70 hours a week in order to raise India's productivity graph which is currently at an all time low.