Namita Thapar vs Anupam Mittal on work-life balance

Brut India

Success builds ego... struggles build character." Should employees commit to longer hours? Here's what Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh, and Anupam Mittal have to say...  📹: Humans of Bombay.

Transcript

00:00Clocking hours as a means of defining work-life balance is destroying a whole generation.

00:07Founders, high stakeholders, going to make tons of money, go for it, work 24 hours a day, forever.

00:14For common employees, have a reasonable work limit, knowing that there'll be some blips,

00:19deliverable times, but it cannot be a constant 70-hour work week,

00:23which is what a lot of people are proposing. I work 70 hours a week.

00:28What are your views on the work-life balance debate? Anupam, this, we will start with you.

00:32Yeah, sure. I think it's a big lie that's being told to this new generation,

00:39and I think it stinks because you are not ever going to... Okay, this is only for people who

00:47want to achieve something extraordinary in life. You're not going to achieve anything

00:51extraordinary in life by counting the hours that you're putting in.

00:58Work-life harmony, flexibility, all that I understand, and we have a hybrid work system

01:04where two days a week you can work out a form so you can take care of stuff that you need to do,

01:08but you are expected to be fully engaged even during that time. In fact, our productivity

01:12has gone up by 30% by doing this because we build systems that address issues of slacking off and

01:20things like that. We keep everybody very accountable on the outcomes, but simply

01:25clocking hours as a means of defining work-life balance is destroying a whole generation,

01:34and we work 16 hours a day because we believed so much in the purpose and what we were trying

01:39to build. We never looked at our clocks, our watches, although we were on salaries.

01:43I think that really builds character. When you struggle, success builds ego,

01:49but struggles build character. I think people need to really

01:55go all-in as far as what they want to achieve in the early part of their careers when they

02:00still have the energy and the clarity in terms of what they want. Karishma, this is a crock of bull.

02:09Pardon my language.

02:11Somebody spoke about interruption and how they're disrespectful. You know where that

02:16comes from, right? Generally, people are like that. I apologize. I apologize for interrupting

02:23you, Amit. I think she had a bad morning today. Basically, I think this whole discussion and

02:30argument that's going on is a, pardon my language, crock of bull. I'll give you three data points.

02:39Three very specific data points. Number one, when MQO went public, it was $3 billion. My family

02:46owns 80%. Imagine the kind of wealth I'm making. Now, for the founders, set of co-founders, top

02:53management, look at the kind of money they're making. Obviously, they're going to work 20 hours

02:58a day, which is what we all do. But the employees, MQO has 10,000 employees. Today, my accountant in

03:05my finance department, he's making a salary. He doesn't have the upside of putting in that kind

03:11of hours. If he's going to put in that kind of hours, my second data point, he's going to have

03:17some serious, serious, serious physical and mental health issues. So, I think for founders, high

03:24stakeholders, going to make tons of money, go for it, work 24 hours a day forever. But I think for

03:31the common man and woman, they need, I'm not saying you do three hours, but I think all corporate

03:37cultures have a certain number of hours that they're supposed to work. And of course, when

03:42they're deliverables, like my audit team, when there's a statutory audit, and there's a quarter

03:46end, people at that time work the longer hours, but it's not on a non-stop standard number basis.

03:53Third thing, for God's sake, don't get married and have children. Because the next generation

03:59is suffering by non-existent parents. Then just spare them the misery and the mental health issues

04:05of having an absentee parent. So, I think for people where the stakes are high, yes, but for

04:11common employees, have a reasonable work limit, knowing that there'll be some blips, deliverable

04:16times, but it cannot be a constant 70 hour work week, which is what a lot of people are proposing.

04:22When Amita said absentee parent, I felt like, I didn't know you, but I mean that, you know,

04:30at some point, the kids need the parent. I work very hard. And I like what I do. So, it doesn't

04:37feel like work. But yeah, I work seven days a week. And weekdays is generally 10 hours in the

04:46office. And then of course, you take it at night, one or two hours there. So yeah, maybe 12 hours,

04:52not 16. So, that's 12 times 5 is 60. And then you said you work on weekends as well. I do.

04:57So, about 5-5 there. So, 70 hour weeks. Maybe not 70. And you're also the founder with high stakes.

05:04So, I agree. You'll make a ton of money when Shiva goes public. It's very clear that for founders,

05:09it's very hard to have work-life balance. And it is really a career choice, which where for 10 to

05:1520 to 30 years, you're working really, really hard. And that's the only way to build because

05:21there are just so many variables. But I, you know, in terms of the culture, we have 70% women who

05:29work at Sugar. And why we do say that, you know, our culture is the four pillars are actually

05:34hunger, hustle, humor and humility. But I don't think it's possible to succeed without working

05:40hard. But it's possible to work hard and still find balance, still make time for your family,

05:48and still prioritize your own mental and physical well-being.

05:52But it's a constant learning. It's been a constant learning journey for me as well.

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