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The Veeba founder also revealed that his company recently reduced the work hours to 40 recently.
Viraj Bahl is the founder and MD of Veeba. (Photo Credits: X)
Unlike many in the corporate world, Viraj Bahl, the founder and Managing Director of Veeba, has a different opinion about long working hours. While many CEOs are in favour of long work hours, he isn’t among them. He does not want to push his employees to the brink with gruelling schedules. During a chat on The Rockford Circle podcast hosted by actress Chitrangada Singh, Viraj did not hold back his thoughts on a 70-hour work week.
When Chitrangada asked about his opinion on the 70-hour work-week debate, the founder of the sauce and condiments company instantly said, “I think the 70-hour work-week is a bats–t crazy idea.” According to Viraj, it makes sense if a founder works for those long hours, given they are the ones who gain the most from the company’s success. But expecting employees to do the same without giving them a similar financial benefit or stake in the company is just unfair, he added.
He went on to say, “You know, it is okay for a founder to work 70 hours because he is the biggest commercial gainer out of a 70-hour work week. To expect your team to work 70 hours is crazy. Either compensate them in the same way you are getting compensated for working 70 hours, proportionately, or do not expect them to work 70 hours.”
In line with his beliefs, the Veeba founder also made significant changes in his company recently, reducing working hours. He mentioned that the employees at his company now either work 40 hours a week or eight hours a day. Viraj said, “In our organisation, we have reduced the working hours recently. We are doing 40-hour weeks now,” emphasising, “And to expect someone to work 70 hours without having any equity upside is crazy. I think it’s an obsolete idea. Seventy-hour weeks should not happen.”
The Veeba founder and Managing Director’s perspective on the matter stands out the most, especially at a time when not many apex-level businessmen share this view. The debate about long, gruelling working hours gained much attention in 2023 when Infosys founder Narayana Murthy suggested that Indian employees should work 70 hours a week to boost productivity and help the nation grow.
“Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading I don’t know the truth of it unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress,” the Infosys founder had argued back then.
Founders like Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, align with Narayan Murthy’s viewpoint, believing that employees should work more.
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