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‘There are weeks I work 60 hours, there are weeks that I work only 40 hours. I think over a period of time you find your own balance and you become happy,’ says TCS CEO.
TCS Managing Director and CEO K Krithivasan.
TCS Managing Director and CEO K Krithivasan recently weighed in on the ongoing debate surrounding work-life balance, which has been fuelled by comments from notable industry leaders like L&T Chairman S N Subrahmanyan and Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. Subrahmanyan’s suggestion of a 90-hour workweek, including the notion of working on Sundays, followed Murthy’s earlier endorsement of 70-hour workweeks. These remarks have sparked intense discussions about the impact of such demands on employee well-being.
Krithivasan, however, emphasised that the focus should not be on the number of hours worked, but on achieving a personal balance that fits one’s life. “There are weeks I work 60 hours, there are weeks that I work only 40 hours. I think over a period of time you find your own balance and you become happy,” he stated in an interview with Business Today.
When asked about the younger generation’s inclination toward work-life balance, Krithivasan chose not to criticise the youth’s work ethic. Instead, he acknowledged that they are putting in their best effort. “They (youth) put in their best effort,” he remarked. He further added, “We have to see the spirit of what they said. We’re just getting into meme war and meme-fest. That’s not doing justice to the veterans and what they have achieved over the years.”
Krithivasan also addressed the controversy surrounding Subrahmanyan’s comments on working 90 hours a week, including forfeiting Sundays. He cautioned against taking these remarks out of context. “Don’t take whatever he said out of context. Because I was not there, you were not there when he said that. Taking something out of context is unfair to them,” he explained. He offered his perspective on managing work-life balance by noting, “There are times we worked on Sundays when something is going live on a Monday. But there are times when you don’t work on Thursday, Friday, Saturday also because there is not much of work or you work the previous week.”
Krithivasan reiterated that work-life balance is ultimately about finding what works for the individual, and he downplayed the idea that working on Sundays would become a regular expectation. “Nobody’s going to be asked to work for Sundays for years together. We are blowing these things out of proportion,” he asserted.
In addition to addressing work-life balance, Krithivasan spoke about the potential impact of H-1B visa restrictions. He reassured that TCS would not be significantly affected by any cuts to the program, highlighting the company’s strong local hiring pipeline in North America. “We have roughly about 40,000 associates working in North America. Out of that, more than 50% are locals and we, on a given year, take around approximately 3,000 visas. People go from here. So our dependence on H1B is quite limited. If the number of visas issued decreases even further, we’ll be able to manage. We have a very strong local pipeline. We can take people from there. We have a good training program,” he said.
The remarks by Subrahmanyan and Murthy on extended work hours have sparked considerable backlash, particularly on social media, where critics argue that such demands are harmful to employees’ health and well-being. The ongoing debate highlights the tension between workplace expectations and the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
