For the longest time, hustle culture was glorified in India. Professionals, especially engineers and corporate employees would proudly say things like, “I haven’t taken a vacation in years” or “I sleep for only 4 hours because work is life”. But times have changed. The younger workforce is no longer willing to sacrifice their health and personal lives for a paycheck – no matter how big it is.
Recently, Varun Vummadi, CEO of GigaML, took to X to express his frustration about hiring engineers in India. He wrote:
“I’ve noticed a pattern in hiring engineers for our Indian office. Even with a base salary of ₹1 crore, many are unwilling to work hard. A significant number of engineers with 3–8 years of experience are reluctant to work six days a week.”
Have a look:
I’ve noticed a pattern in hiring engineers for our Indian office. Even with a base salary of ₹1 crore, many are unwilling to work hard. A significant number of engineers with 3–8 years of experience are reluctant to work six days a week.
— Varun Vummadi (@varunvummadi) January 30, 2025
The tweet quickly went viral, and people online had a lot to say about it. While some agreed that high salaries should come with extra commitment, most people pointed out that the era of endless work hours and weekend sacrifices is over.
People also highlighted that passion and ownership play a crucial role in motivation. If employees feel a sense of belonging and purpose, they will naturally go the extra mile.
Have a look at some of the responses here:
Be it any field, the days of “pay high salary and make them work 24×7” are gone, in my opinion. 5 days work week and 8 hours per day are conducive to mental and physical health. And also productivity.
— Dr Deepak Krishnamurthy (@DrDeepakKrishn1) January 31, 2025
People will work hard when they own something. Doesn’t matter they are the employee or the owner. When you have passionate individuals with a sense of ownership, motivation will automatically kick in and they will do tremendous work.
Of course you need to adjust the monetary…
— CK32 (@___110010100___) January 31, 2025
Maybe the work isn’t interesting enough.
When I joined my first job right out of college, our managers never asked us to work 6 days a week. They rarely came to office on Saturdays. The office was in an incubator so it was open 24/7. The work was so interesting that a lot of us…
— Nirmesh Mehta (@NirmeshMehta) January 31, 2025
Offer them 5 days a week and 75lac. I am glad some people are prioritising mental health and family over money.
— Gaurav Dutta (@dgaurav7) January 31, 2025
Why would they, If there is another company next door who would pay the same with 5 days a week. Real hard working days will get same amount of work done in 4 days.
Worked at a startup as employee no 0, all code from git init. Can say this with confidence.
Also did 7 days a…
— Amitosh Swain Mahapatra (@recrsn) January 31, 2025
Why the heck they would work for 6 days a week for someone’s else company. Put this in hiring contract and let all engg know why they are signing up for
— Manish Ranjan (@manishranjan) January 31, 2025
Why will anyone who is earning more than 25L in India, no matter the profession, want to work 6 days a week? Not worth it. Anyone who is earning 50L+ will also have a family mostly and the incremental benefit of spending time with family is way higher than earning 10L extra…
— Abhishek Kumar (@marginalideas) January 31, 2025
framing problem – I may end up working 6-7 days out of choice based on managing my own time but the moment it’s mandatory no amount of money will make it ok
— Fareesh Vijayarangam (@fareesh) January 31, 2025
This discussion raises an important question: should employees be expected to work beyond the standard workweek just because they are paid well?
What do you think?