Our society celebrates working long hours. It pats on the backs of people who make tremendous personal sacrifices to be able to dedicate their being entirely to the company they work for. We make role models out of people who spend 14 hours working at an office, drinking innumerable cups of coffee and pushing employees to work harder. Their mental and physical wellbeing be damned.
CRED’s CEO Kunal Shah claimed that no big achievement can come from having a work-life balance. He said that India has adopted from the Western world the concept of being “chill” even before becoming a developed nation.
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“I am not saying it is not a choice you should not make – it is a personal choice. But as a country, we have to go a long way. We see an extraordinary execution (in China). It’s called the 996 culture – 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. And you see that progress. We cannot have the ambition of being a 10-20 trillion dollar economy and still expect that life should be chill,” he said.
This comes after Infosys founder Narayana Murthy urged youngsters to dedicate 70 hours a week to working at an office.
The 996 culture that Kunal Shah is talking about here has often been referred to as “brutal” because there were several professionals who died because of exhaustion and suicide, reported Moneycontrol. The situation was so serious that the Chinese government had to intervene and issue a warning to companies reminding them that such lengthy work hours are illegal.
What are your views regarding Kunal Shah’s statement?