Capgemini CEO Advocates Work-Life Balance: 47-Hour Week & No Weekend Emails

Capgemini CEO Advocates Work-Life Balance: In the midst of all these bigwigs advocating long working hours, Capgemini CEO Ashwin Yardi has proposed a 47-hour workweek with no work emails being sent to employees on weekends. "Forty-seven and a half hours. We have about nine hours a day and five days a week," he said, while Speaking at the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum, he was asked by PTI about the number of hours an employee should work in a week.

He added that unless the issue comes up that needs a solution which cannot wait until a weekday, no emails can be sent at the weekend, and this he practiced for the past four years. "My guiding principle for the last four years is don't send an e-mail on a weekend even if it is an escalation unless you know you can solve it on a weekend," he said.

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No point in 'giving grief' to employees

Yardi said he does work on the weekends but that does not mean it had to be done by his employees. He said he tried not to email them to avoid undermining them with unnecessary stress; there simply is no sense in adding "grief" for an employee knowing that the work cannot be done on a weekend.

Earlier, Yardi had stated that according to the demographic profile of IT workers, it is inevitable for organizations to get along with the expectations of the youth, mentioning the practices they are adopting. He said that Capgemini is having a quarterly promotion calendar, six-week employee surveys, and a career path for employees.

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While opposite to Yardi, there is a demand from Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy for a 70-hour workweek, and a similar refrain from Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subrahmanyan wherein he is asking for a hollering 90-hour work weeks. Both received flak for their statements, which were set against the backdrop of numerous debates over the work-life balance.

Nasscom Chairperson Sindhu Gangadharan who's leading SAP India said that results matter more than hours put into work. Shared that Marico CEO Saugata Gupta does it once in a while but admitted to sending them emails as late as 11.00 pm.

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