Indian labour regulations do not prescribe the maximum hours per week for those in administrative or managerial positions. For all other workers in industry, the Factories Act prescribes a maximum of 48 hours per week before overtime becomes payable. But there are other reasons why executives work more hours.
Our guru shishya Parampara (tradition) requires a disciple to emulate the Guru to learn. So, it all depends on how long your boss works. If your boss is in the habit of coming early and going late, your path to career advancement lies in being available for her/him in the office. Emulation is the highest form of flattery, and it works well.
The unwritten code
Corporate honchos pull no punches in calling a spade a spade, one on one. But in formal external communications, savvy corporates follow the “woke” practices in place in western economies, where due homage is paid to degenderizing work practices and integrating more women into the workforce. Social media has breached this compact of managerial silence, by outing what really happens at internal meetings. The most recent incident in India relates to Larsen and Toubro. L&T is the largest corporate by market capitalization in the engineering and construction segment and the 12th amongst all listed companies — a storied giant and one of the few professionally managed companies in a sea of family-owned businesses.
The previous chairman A. N Naik (2003-17) had no qualms in sharing publicly that he never took leave over the initial twenty-one years of his working life, often missing the last bus home and sleeping on the office desk. The message being that hard work and long hours paid off for him. The present chairman, S. N. Subrahmanyam, was possibly just conforming to company’s traditions, when he remarked recently, at an internal meeting that he never took Sundays off and added that left to him, he would like everyone to work 90 hours a week- including Sundays. He continues in the spirit of office banter to query “What are you going to do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife or a wife stare at a husband? Come to office and work instead.”
Out of sync with the future?
Social media revolted pointing out that long hours are less important than the quality of work and the outputs. Harsh Goenka, Chairperson RPG group-a diversified family managed company- joined the chorus that working smart is as important as working hard. This is true but it ignores the Guru Shishya equation of emulating the leader. Corporates work in teams, which often extends to hanging out after work. This is where things get complicated. In general, women’s participation in the work force is still nascent. Consider than even in a globally oriented company like L&T, women comprise just 7 percent of the work force though in the management cadre they account for 18 percent. Mr. Subrahmanyam did well to degenderize his comments. But he exposed a traditional mind-set, by assuming that a wife/husband is available at home to be stared at on a holiday, and not hard at work herself/himself in office, leaving the other spouse either staring at the computer, out of the window or busily engaged in chores like babysitting.
The number of working couples is increasing though on average they account for only one third of Indian families. Curiously, the share is higher in rural areas than in cities. This is probably an overestimation because “unpaid workers” -persons (usually the woman) helping in a family shop or on the family farm, are recorded as workers. This statistical adjustment boosts employment shares. More tellingly, only about 14 percent of men help with the housework. Of course it is not just about staring at one’s spouse. Holidays cater to other household needs – spending time with children or parents, visiting friends, paying bills, shopping and just catching up on self-improvement.
Conundrum: Balancing work with life often means reconciling to less of life.
Actually, Indians executives have always worked long hours even in the formal corporate sector. Sudha Murthy, a Rajya Sabha MP, a professional in her own right and wife of India’s iconic, tech entrepreneur N. R. Narayan Murthy of Infosys – the sixth biggest corporate by market capitalization-says that on working days they were out of the house for 15 hours, including travel time. India has more holidays than more developed economies, thereby reducing the average to 70 hours per week, which is what Narayan Murthy recommends for Indian professionals. He dismisses equivalence with the developed country work norms with the pithy comment “You must first build a life, to seek a balance between it and work.”
His point is valid. The average returns for work in India are low (current $ 2,450 per capita per year versus at least $14,000 in developed countries). At the bottom of the pyramid, inadequate income constrains “having a life.” To be sure, Murthy ignores that the productivity of work varies enormously, even within a business, depending on factors beyond the control of workers, like how work is organized, the level of skill upgradation pursued by the corporate, the nature of work, and the market value of the product. Farmers, he claims, work hard. But their productivity is still one half of more developed economies and cannot be raised simply by working more.
The unproductivity of long hours
Also consider the classic case of the government where those at the top are similarly obliged to work hard. Working harder than the last man in the chain of command- leaving office late and getting in early- are seen as the hall marks of leadership. Prime Minister Modi is visibly on the job 24X7, 365 days a year as are most Ministers and senior bureaucrats. All government servants are expected to be on duty -if needed- 24 hours a day.
Can “picky” workers compete with tireless robots?
The work is worship trend is catching. President Elect Trump is expected to consign woke ideas on labour practices to history. His clone, Elon Musk now hopes to build the US government to fit the mold of the most efficient corporates, where uncomplaining commitment to the job takes precedence. This was always so for those eyeing the C suite. But the integration of robots into business processes and at home creates new standards of worker availability for even those doing mundane jobs. So, forget about C suites, just hanging onto your job means competing with that tireless monster across the aisle, who remains available on average for three fourths of a day or 24X7 till maintenance calls.
First published in the Asian Age January 13, 2024 https://www.asianage.com/opinion/columnists/sanjeev-ahluwalia-are-corporate-bosses-wrong-to-glorify-long-work-hours-1853823
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