'Unwilling to work hard, reluctant to work six days a week', Tech CEO on Indian engineers
"A significant number of engineers with 3每8 years of experience are reluctant to work six days a week," Varun Vummadi, an electrical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, and co-founder of Giga ML said.
Amid the ongoing debate over work-life balance, Varun Vummadi, a US-based Indian-origin tech CEO, has come under criticism for claiming that even experienced engineers are unwilling to work hard and work six days a week. Vummadi, the co-founder of Giga ML, made the comments in an X post.
CREDIT: LINKEDIN
'Even with a base salary of ?1 crore...'
"I＊ve noticed a pattern in hiring engineers for our Indian office. Even with a base salary of ?1 crore, many are unwilling to work hard. A significant number of engineers with 3每8 years of experience are reluctant to work six days a week," Vummadi, an electrical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, said.
I＊ve noticed a pattern in hiring engineers for our Indian office. Even with a base salary of ?1 crore, many are unwilling to work hard. A significant number of engineers with 3每8 years of experience are reluctant to work six days a week.
〞 Varun Vummadi (@varunvummadi) January 30, 2025
Many disagree
Many on X disagreed with Vummadi and argued that asking for two days off a week is not something that is to be looked down upon.
"Weird way to phrase that a lot of 26-32-year people prefer having a 2-day weekend in their lives. Sounds pretty normal to me,§ one person wrote.
CREDIT: IStock
"Why will anyone who is earning more than 25L in India, no matter the profession, want to work 6 days a week? Not worth it. Anyone who is earning 50L+ will also have a family mostly, and the incremental benefit of spending time with family is way higher than earning 10L extra gross," asked another.
Not good for mental or physical health: doctor
"Be it any field, the days of 'pay high salary and make them work 24x7' are gone, in my opinion. 5-day work week and 8 hours per day are conducive to mental and physical health. And also productivity," Dr Deepak Krishnamoorthy, the HOD - Interventional Cardiology, Kauvery Hospital, Marathahalli, Bengaluru, pointed out.
Be it any field, the days of "pay high salary and make them work 24x7" are gone, in my opinion. 5 days work week and 8 hours per day are conducive to mental and physical health. And also productivity.
〞 Dr Deepak Krishnamurthy (@DrDeepakKrishn1) January 31, 2025
Another X user blamed it on Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy.
"Narayana Murthy made it uncool to work hard by preaching to work hard. They don＊t wanna validate him," the user wrote.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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