Why NR Narayana Murthy Is Wrong In Asking Youth In India To Work 70 Hours A Week

Therefore, when there is a furore raging over his recent statement that youth in India should work 70 hours every week towards nation-building and competing globally, it is not surprising.

On ‘The Record’ podcast, Murthy said boosting productivity is key to India’s economic growth and referred to Germany’s and Japan’s post-World War experience in this regard. But times have changed.

Today, companies worldwide have deliberately moved away from those standards to more humane ones. At a time when working hours are declining across the world to ensure employee well-being and work-life balance, Murthy is suggesting just the opposite.

“Longer working hours do not lead to higher productivity. Today’s young generation needs flexibility of work. They tend to have many commitments other than work,” said Sanyukta Jolly, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources at IILM Institute of Higher Education.

What Murthy is suggesting is, in effect, taking India Inc back in time, to the 18th-19th century industrialisation era in Europe, when factory workers were forced to work 10-12 hours, often without a day off.

Historically declining trend

Norms of working hours and issues of productivity rose from the early 19th century when industrialisation started. Research by economic historians Michael Huberman and Chris Minns shows that in 1870, workers in most of the western countries worked for about 3,000 hours annually or close to about 70 hours a week.

But today, in most countries it is almost half of that. In fact, the study says that there have been three phases of decline. It noted that from 1870 to 1913, the decline in work hours was slow. The rise of Communism and Marxism from the 19th century when workers were greatly empowered also led to higher compensation and shorter working hours. The second phase, from 1913 to 1938 saw a steep decline which was a period in world history that saw World War I, Great Depression and the very first traces of technology developments. From then onwards, from World War II, working hours slowed again relative to the second phase but with wide disparities across countries. In fact, countries like Germany which saw some of the longest working hours in the past have seen the sharpest decline.

There is another reason for the declining hours. Noted management guru Peter Drucker coined the term ‘knowledge workers’ to refer to professional workers of the 21st century and their rise in the last quarter of a century. He suggested that for such workers effectiveness and productivity comes from flexibility and creativity rather than long hours.

More recently, the galloping growth of technology and the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will bring in a new era in the debate around working hours.

There are a few trends that emerge from this historical decline in working hours. One, working hours are shorter in richer and developed countries while they are longer in poorer countries. Second, people are able to work less in more productive economies. Productivity refers to the rate at which inputs are turned into outputs. It has been found that there is a direct linkage between rising national incomes, decreasing work hours and national productivity growth. Finally, as we know, there is a direct linkage between technological innovation and decreased working hours. Therefore, it can be safely said that the 77-year-old Narayana Murthy’s views have outlived his times.

Future of work

With about two-thirds of India’s 1.4 billion people being under 35 years of age, the future of work is clearly with them. There is another demographic factor that is reshaping Indian society, where families are moving from larger to nuclear ones. Many of them are double income couples who need to balance their work and time.

The other big driver for change and flexibility in the mode of work is the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath. While employees found the benefits of work from home, employers also found that costs of office space and other related items like electricity have great potential to come down. And, as we have now moved into the post-pandemic phase, hybrid work is the favourite work pattern in corporate India. One sector that has felt the biggest impact of hybrid work and decreased number of hours is that of information technology and software services.

Professor Jolly perhaps has the last word. She said: “What is important is that with flexibility and lower working hours, accountability is primary. The work should get done. Period.”