Outcome, not work hours, matters: India Inc leaders on productivity

Even as the debate on the work hours continues to divide companies and employees, head honchos from India Inc said that what matters is the outcome.

 

“Hours do not matter, what matters is the outcome,” Saugata Gupta, managing director, Marico said. He was part of a panel discussion at the Nasscom Technology Leadership Forum.

 

If you really love your work and are good at it, it does not matter what is work and life, Gupta added.

 

The comments came at a time when India Inc has been divided between the hours that employees need to spend in office working. Leaders such as N R Narayana Murthy, co-founder and former CEO of Infosys have advocated 70-hours a week. L&T chairman in one of his town halls had said that people should come to work on Sundays as well or work for 90 hours a week.

 

Encouraging no weekend emails, Ashwin Yardi, India head, Capgemini, said, “I would say 47-and-a-half hours. We work 9.5 hours every day for five days a week. My guiding principle for the last four years now is don't send an email on a weekend even if it is an escalation, unless we know we can solve it on a weekend. I don't send an email.”

 

He further added that there is no point in sending emails to colleagues knowing very well that the issue will not get solved over the weekend.

 

“Why give grief to my team to worry about escalation knowing very well they cannot solve it on a weekend. I diligently have been following no weekend emails,” he added. Yardi also added that when required, he has worked on a weekend as well.

 

Sindhu Gangadharan, SVP and MD, SAP Labs India, said it depends on the outcomes that one is driving and it is frankly not the number of hours.

 

“Sometimes you can do something in half-an-hour and sometimes it may take 15 hours. It really depends on what you are driving,” Gangadharan said.

 

Yardi also added that with the demographic of the employees changing in India, companies will need to adjust as well.

 

“The average age of an Indian is 28 years. That is the average age in the IT industry. The challenge we are facing is not just rapid change on the tech side, but deal with the talent which is very different,” he added.

 

He also highlighted how Capgemini is incorporating changes with the younger age joining its employee base.

 

“When it comes to agility, the new age talent is very different. If you are training them on GenAI, then they want a project on GenAI to work within the next few days. They want to keep on moving on to newer things. So, companies need to have agility, but also create a career map for them as well,” said Yardi.

 

He also said that the company has quarterly promotion cycles, and employee surveys every six-week.