Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu weighs in on Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s 70-hour workweek stance

Zoho Corporation CEO Sridhar Vembu has weighed in on the 70-hour workweek debate started by Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy. In an X post, the Indian entrepreneur said, “It is enough if only a small percentage of the population drive themselves hard.”

While partially supporting Murthy’s suggestion, Vembu added that the trade-off for imposing such a rule would be far too big. 

Citing examples of other East Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, Vembu said that these countries had all developed through a lot of hard work, with the governments often imposing “punitive levels of work on their own people,” leading to worryingly low birth rates. 

Vembu said it was enough if just a small percentage of the population drove themselves hard. “I believe that it is sufficient for broad based economic development if may be 2 - 5% drive themselves and the rest of us could have a decent work life balance,” he noted, adding that such a balance is required. 

He also said that he didn’t think the compromise is worth it. “I don’t want India to replicate China’s economic success if the price is China’s steep demographic decline (which has already started,” he said. A decrease in fertility was already being observed and a further decline in levels wouldn’t be good according to him. “I do believe we can develop without needing to work ourselves to demographic suicide,” Vembu stated.