'Can't work 70 hours at 40 hours salary': CureFit founder Mukesh Bansal counters Narayana Murthy's remarks

CureFit founder Mukesh Bansal has also entered the 70 hour work week debate. Bansal is of the opinion that it is simply not fair to expect people to work 70 hours a week when they don't get enough salary.

He said in a recent LinkedIn post that companies demanding 70 hours per week also need to create proportional upside. "Companies demanding 70 hours per week need to also create proportional upside. You can't demand 70 hours of work at 40 hours salary. That's not fair," the CureFit founder said in his post.  

CureFit founder's LinkedIn post was a response to Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's recent advice to youngsters. Murthy, who is also hailed as the pioneer of the Indian IT sector, advocated a 70-hour work week for youngsters so that India can compete with economies that have made tremendous progress in the last 2-3 decades.

The industry leader's comments raked up quite the stir on social media, with the likes of JSW Group CMD Sajjan Jindal backing him up on the issue while some others like Marico chairman Harsh Mariwala pitched for a better work-life balance for employees. Bansal, who also co-founded Myntra in 2007 with Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena, added that putting in more hours at work should be a personal choice of the employees.

He added that health, family, career and peace of mind are important for everybody, while advising people need to prioritise according to what matters the most in a given situation. He also mentioned that putting in more hours at work should be a personal choice.

Also Read: Not Narayana Murthy's 70 hours, but Indians do work very hard, shows ILO data

Reminiscing his Silicon Valley days, he said that he has worked long hours simply because he enjoyed it so much. "But individuals can choose to put in more hours of their own will. Sometimes, the learning acceleration and sense of achievement is worth it's one reward. I have worked crazy hours for companies in Silicon Valley because I was enjoying it so much and the experience came in very handy later," he said in his post. 

Bansal also downplayed the age-old idea of more working hours equals enhanced productivity and output. He said during the course of his career, he "would rather focus on how to be effective in each hour, rather than mindlessly putting in more hours". 

The serial entrepreneur furthermore stated that one cannot virtue signal or shame people into putting in more hours at work. "One cannot deny that world is moved forward by people who work hard but it should be a personal choice. We can't virtue signal or shame people into putting in more hours," he said towards the end of his post. 

Also Read: Suniel Shetty backs Narayana Murthy's '70-hour work week' remark, cites example of Kohli, Ratan Tata

Also Watch: From Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, Tech Mahindra's CP Gurnani to JSW’s Sajjan Jindal, Ashneer Grover and more, here’s how industry leaders reacted to NR Narayana Murthy's 'work 70 hours a week' remark

Also Read: Workers insisting on work-life balance are holding India back, says CRED founder Kunal Shah