IT service company Capgemini’s CEO Ashwin Yardi has said that working 47.5 hours a week is sufficient. Ashwin Yardi said that he is against making employees work on weekends. At the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum, an employee had asked a question about the ideal time hour every week. In response to which, Yardi said that for the last 4 years he has been working on the principle of not sending any email to employees on weekends.Ashwin Yardi further said – I have been working on the theory of not sending any kind of email (unless it is very important) to employees on weekends for the last 4 years. Meaning weekends are for one’s health and family. Let us tell you that earlier Infosys’ Narayan Murthy had talked about working 70 hours a week, after which people opposed it a lot. At the same time, a few days later, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) chairman SN Subrahmanyan talked about working 90 hours a week, which was opposed by many businessmen themselves.Ashwin Yardi has been associated with Capgemini since 2001. Prior to this, he has served at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ashwin Yardi became the CEO of Capgemini in India and a member of the Group Executive Committee in December 2018. Prior to this, from January 2016 to December 2018, he was the COO of Capgemini in India, in charge of operations, distribution, capacity growth, and innovation across the country. Apart from this, till January 2021, Ashwin Yardi was also the head of Group Industrialization and Automation, leading the competitiveness and industrialization of the delivery of the Capgemini portfolio.In October 2023, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy advised working 70 hours a week. After this statement from Murthy, he was criticized a lot on social media. In December 2024, Narayana Murthy had said that the youth have to understand that we have to work hard and work towards making India number one. We have to keep our aspirations high because 800 million, i.e., 80 crore, Indians get free rations, i.e., 800 million Indians are in poverty. If we are not in a position to work hard, then who will work hard? After this statement, he got as much support as he was criticized.On January 11, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman SN Subrahmanyan supported working 90 hours a week during an online conversation in L&T’s internal meeting. Along with this, he had said that if possible, the company would make you work on Sundays as well. Actually, he was asked why the billion-dollar company calls its employees even on Saturdays. In response to this, Subramanian had said that I am sorry that I am unable to make you work on Sunday. If I could make you work even on Sunday, I would be happier, because I work on Sundays.Talking on this topic, Arya Jha, an external auditor in a big four firm, said, “Life in a corporation is like a rat race, and work-life balance is a myth. When I first joined the firm, I used to work for 55 hours weekly. As I got promoted to a senior position, I even worked for 110 hours in a week, and people in the firm find it a normal task. I am elated that a CEO is taking a stand for its employees’ well-being. The no-mail-on-weekend policy will, if truly implemented, bring peace to all the corporate employees.”.
Reporting to true to life