Work-life balance: From NR Narayana Murthy to SN Subrahmanyan; who said what

Focus has shifted back to work-life balance, or the lack of it, with his outrageous claim that employees should work 90 hours a week and that he regrets the fact that he was not able to make them work on Sundays. As expected, Subrahmanyan's comments were met with considerable backlash on social media.

CREDIT: UNSPLASH

But this is not the first time a highly-paid top executive of an Indian company has made headlines for claiming that their employees, most of whom are living paycheck to paycheck, should work more for India to become a developed nation.

NR Narayana Murthy

The most famous, or infamous, such comments were made by N. R. Narayana Murthy, who in October 2023 first made the suggestion that young Indians should work at least 70 hours and six days a week. Even after heavy criticism, Murthy doubled down on his argument and said he would take his views to the grave.

CREDIT: BCCL

Kunal Shah

Kunal Shah, the founder of fintech unicorn Cred, was one of the first high-profile personalities to support Murthy's views. During a podcast hosted by Myntra founder Mukesh Bansal in October 2023, Shah said, "No big achievement can come with work-life balance." He, however, added that it was a personal choice to make.

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Shantanu Deshpande

Long before Murthy and Shah, another startup CEO had faced backlash for asking youngsters to work 18 hours a day. In a LinkedIn post in August 2022, Bombay Shaving Company's CEO Shantanu Deshpande said, "When you are 22 and new in your job, throw yourself into it. Eat well and stay fit, but put in the 18-hour days for at least 4¨C5 years."

CREDIT:Shantanu Deshpande

Bhavish Aggarwal

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal was also among those who threw their weight behind Murthy. In October 2024, Aggarwal said he "don¡¯t think work-life balance is the right construct." According to him, weekends are also a Western concept.

CREDIT: BCCL

Anupam Mittal

Anupam Mittal, the founder and CEO of Shaadi.com, has also expressed his views on work-life balance, calling it a ¡°big lie¡± told to younger people.

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However, not all Indian CEOs are of the opinion that work-life balance is a trivial matter or that employees don¡¯t deserve work-life balance.

Harsh Goenka

The most notable such name is RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Harsh Goenka, who, throughout the controversy, has advocated for work-life balance. On Thursday, Goenka, while responding to Subrahmanyan's comments, said perpetual office shifts would only result in burnout and added that, in his view, work-life balance is not optional, but essential.

CREDIT: BCCL

Gautam Adani

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani also recently expressed his views on work-life balance and the importance of spending quality time with family.

CREDIT: AP

"Your work-life balance should not be imposed on me, and my work-life balance shouldn't be imposed on you," Adani said, jokingly adding that if you spend most of your day at work, your wife will run away.

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