SOURCE : NEW18 NEWS
Last Updated:January 21, 2025, 15:03 IST
“A human being can’t be productive beyond 8 or 9 hours. Sometimes you have to put in those hours (70 or 90 hours). It’s fine… But you can’t do that every day,” says Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla.
Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla says he sometimes works on weekends also if it’s needed.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, joined the work-life balance debate and shared his thoughts on productivity and the ongoing debate surrounding the 70-hour and 90-hour workweeks. During the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025 in Davos, Poonawalla on Tuesday said humans cannot be productive beyond 8 or 9 hours.
“A human being can’t be productive beyond 8 or 9 hours (per day). Sometimes you have to put in those hours (70 or 90 hours a week). It’s fine. I do it. My staff do it, but you can’t do that every day,” Poonawalla said in an interaction with India Today.
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Discussing his own work schedule, he added, “I would say I work at least 8 hours a day, sometimes on weekends if it’s needed, but there may be some days when, you know, I may be just on the slope skiing or doing something else. But, it all depends on the day.”
Poonawalla acknowledged that while there are times when long hours are necessary, it’s not sustainable on a daily basis. Recalling his experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted, “I could have a 16-hour day. During COVID, I was coming home at 11 PM at night. So it all depends on the journey and the stage that you’re at. If you’re an entrepreneur building your business, you absolutely should work hard and do whatever it takes.”
While advocating for hard work, he also highlighted the importance of strategic and quality work over mere hours spent. “There’s no substitute for hard work,” he said, but stressed that working smartly is equally critical.
Recently, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Chairman S N Subrahmanyan asked employees to put in 90 hours a week. The L&T chairman’s comments, first circulated in a video on Reddit, suggested that employees should prioritise work over home life, questioning, “How long can you stare at your wife?” Subrahmanyan expressed regret over the inability to mandate Sunday work, stating, “If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy because I work on Sundays.”
In October 2023, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy sparked a debate on the work-life balance after he advocated for the 70-hour work week. He had said that for India to compete with the fastest-growing countries like China and Japan, the youth must commit to working 70 hours a week.
However, on Monday, Murthy said no one can ask people to put in long hours, but it is for everybody to “introspect” and understand the need for it. Underlining that he has put in over 70 hours a week for 40-odd years during his time at Infosys, Murthy said these are issues that need to be introspected on, and not debated.
