New Delhi, Jan 15: Chairman of the Adani Group Gautam Adani’s idea of work-life balance is “interesting”, says Harsh Goenka, Chairperson of the RPG Group. “Gautam Adani has an interesting take on work-life balance,” said Goenka, in a post on social media platform X, along with a video of the Adani Group Chairman. Gautam Adani is seen speaking on work-life balance, calling it “a matter of personal choice”.
He insists on enjoying one’s work as key to achieving work-life balance. “Your idea of work-life balance should not be imposed on me and my idea shouldn’t be imposed on you. Say, someone spends 4 hours with family and finds joy in it, or if someone else spends 8 hours and enjoys it, that is their work-life balance…,” Gautam Adani said.
Interestingly, he said that his “wife will run away if eight hours are spent with family”. “Say, someone spends four hours with family and finds joy in it, or if someone else spends eight hours and enjoys it, that is their work-life balance. However, if you spend eight hours with your family, biwi bhaag jayegi (Wife will run away).”
The comments come amid the debate on working long hours, proposed by Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. He has been advocating 70 hours a week. More recently, Larsen & Toubro (L&;T) Chairman SN Subrahmanyan suggested employees work 90-hour per week, even on Sundays, to remain competitive. “If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays also.”
He further questioned, “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Get to the office and start working.”
The idea of working for long hours has been both applauded and opposed by many. Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal supported Murthy’s proposal calling the concept of the work-life balance “influenced by the West”. Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu said that the rationale behind the 70-hour work week is “it is necessary for economic development”.
On the other hand, Namita Thapar, Executive Director – India Business of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, asserted that the debate must differentiate between high-level stakeholders, like founders, and regular employees. Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto said that what matters is quality of work, not hours. He suggested “90 hours to start from the top”.
IANS