Rajiv Bajaj jumps in on ‘90-hr work week' debate: 'Quality of work matters, not time'
Rajiv Bajaj also said that if one wants 90-hour work week, it should start from the top.
Amid an online outrage over Larsen & Toubro (L&T) chairperson's “90-hour work week” remarks, Bajaj Auto's managing director Rajiv Bajaj has said that the quality of work done matters much more than the hours.
In an interview with CNBC TV18, Rajiv Bajaj said that if one wants a 90-hour work week, it should start from the top.
"If you want a 90-hour week, start from the top," Rajiv Bajaj told CNBC-TV18. "Number of hours of work doesn't matter, the quality of work does. We need a kinder, gentler world more than ever before."
Also Read | Who is SN Subrahmanyan, L&T chairman under fire for 90-hour work week remark?
Bajaj also said that companies must move away from adopting regressive policies like a fixed number of working hours.
He also addressed the importance of work-life balance and weighed upon the cost of a 70 or 90-hour work week.
"Even if someone works 70 or 90 hours a week, their life remains interconnected with other aspects-family, health, and well-being. Ignoring this interconnectedness will come at a cost," he said in the interview.
90-hour work week controversy
Larsen and Toubro chairman SN Subrahmanyan triggered an online outrage after he asked people to work for 90 hours a week.
“I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be happier, because I work on Sundays,” Subrahmanyan was quoted as saying in an undated video circulating on social media.
Also Read | ‘Work-life balance essential’: Harsh Goenka on L&T chief's 90-hours remark
"What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Come on, get to the office and start working," he said. “…If you have got to be on top of the world.. You have to work 90 hours a week. Get going, guys. Come on.”
Earlier, Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy, too, had advocated a 70-hour work week. "India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world... my request is that our youngsters must say, 'this is my country, I want to work 70 hours a week'," Murthy had said.
