Sanjeev Ahluwalia | Are corporate bosses wrong to glorify long work hours?

But there are other reasons why executives work more hours.

Our “guru shishya parampara” (tradition) requires a disciple to emulate the guru to learn. So, it all depends on how long your boss works. If your boss is in the habit of coming early and going late, your path to career advancement lies in being available for him/her in the office. Emulation is the highest form of flattery, and it works well.

Corporate honchos pull no punches in calling a spade a spade, one on one. But in formal external communications, savvy corporates follow the “woke” practices in place in Western economies, where due homage is paid to degenderizing work practices and integrating more women into the workforce. The social media has breached this compact of managerial silence, by outing what really happens at internal meetings. The most recent incident in India relates to Larsen and Toubro.

L&T is the largest corporate by market capitalization in the engineering and construction segment and the twelfth amongst all listed companies -- a storied giant and one of the few professionally managed companies in a sea of family-owned businesses.

The previous chairman, A.N. Naik (2003-17), had no qualms in sharing publicly that he never took leave over the initial 21 years of his working life, often missing the last bus home and sleeping on the office desk. The message being that hard work and long hours paid off for him. The present chairman, S.N. Subrahmanyam, was possibly just conforming to his company’s traditions, when he remarked recently, at an internal meeting, that he never took Sundays off and added that left to him, he would like everyone to work 90 hours a week, including Sundays. He continues in the spirit of office banter to query: “What are you going to do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife or a wife stare at a husband? Come to office and work instead.”

The social media revolted, pointing out that long hours are less important than the quality of work and the outputs. Harsh Goenka, chairperson of the RPG Group -- a diversified family-managed company -- joined the chorus that working smart is as important as working hard. This is true, but it ignores the guru shishya equation of emulating the leader.

Corporate groups work in teams, that often extends to hanging out after work. This is where things get complicated. In general, women’s participation in the workforce is still nascent. Consider than even in a globally oriented company like L&T, women comprise just seven per cent of the workforce though in the management cadre they account for 18 per cent. Mr Subrahmanyam did well to degenderize his comments. But he exposed a traditional mindset, by assuming that a wife or husband is available at home to be stared at on a holiday, and not hard at work herself/himself in office, leaving the other spouse either staring at the computer, out of the window or busily engaged in chores like babysitting.

The number of working couples is increasing though on average they account for only one-third of Indian families. Curiously, the share is higher in rural areas than in the cities. This is probably an overestimation because “unpaid workers” -- persons (usually the woman) helping in a family shop or on the family farm, are recorded as workers. This statistical adjustment boosts employment shares. More tellingly, only about 14 per cent of men help with the housework. Of course, it is not just about staring at one’s spouse. Holidays cater to other household needs -- spending time with children or parents, visiting friends, paying bills, shopping and just catching up on self-improvement.

Actually, Indian executives have always worked long hours even in the formal corporate sector. Sudha Murthy, a Rajya Sabha MP, a professional in her own right and wife of India’s iconic, tech entrepreneur N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys -- the sixth biggest corporate by market capitalization -- says that on working days they were out of the house for 15 hours, including travel time. India has more holidays than more developed economies, thereby reducing the average to 70 hours per week, which is what Mr Narayana Murthy recommends for Indian professionals. He dismisses the equivalence with the developed country work norms with the pithy comment: “You must first build a life, to seek a balance between it and work.”

His point is valid. The average returns for work in India are low (current $2,450 per capita per year, versus at least $14,000 in developed countries). At the bottom of the pyramid, inadequate income constrains “having a life”. To be sure, Mr Murthy ignores that the productivity of work varies enormously, even within a business, depending on factors beyond the control of workers, like how work is organized, the level of skill upgradation pursued by the corporate group, the nature of work, and the market value of the product. Farmers, he claims, work hard. But their productivity is still one half of more developed economies and cannot be raised simply by working more.

Also, consider the classic case of the government, where those at the top are similarly obliged to work harder for the common good. Working harder than the last man in the chain of command -- leaving office late and getting in early -- are seen as the hallmarks of leadership. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visibly on the job 24X7, 365 days a year, as are most ministers and senior bureaucrats. All government servants are expected to be on duty -- if needed -- 24 hours a day.

The “work is worship” trend is catching. US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to consign woke ideas on labour practices to history. His clone, Elon Musk, now hopes to build the US government to fit the mould of the most efficient corporates, where uncomplaining commitment to the job takes precedence. This was always so for those eyeing the C-suite. But the integration of robots into business processes and at home creates new standards of worker availability for even those doing mundane jobs. So, forget about C-suites, just hanging on to your job means competing with that tireless monster across the aisle, who remains available on an average for three-fourths of a day or 24X7 till maintenance calls.