48–70–90 Hours per week. How much to work?

 

An AI generated image (No, that’s not me)

I waited for the dust to settle before writing this.

There’s been a lot of debate lately about how many hours one should work. The former Chairman and founder of Infosys proposed 70 hours. Then, the L&T Chairman (in what felt like an auction bid) raised the bar to 90 — and half-jokingly quipped, “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? Come on, get to the office and start working!”

That comment triggered quite a storm — many opposed it, a few supported it.

I’m not here to take sides. But after 40 years in the professional world, I thought I’d share my own perspective. Some may see it as Ultracrepidarian advice — but I’ll venture out anyway.

---

My First Lesson in the Corporate World

Let’s rewind to 1986. I was working as an Inspection Foreman at MICO (a Bosch company). Being on the shop floor, our operations ran in three shifts. I was 24, eager to prove myself, and trying to juggle multiple things — learning tennis (thanks to MICO’s well-maintained clay courts), and studying for ICWAI (Cost Accounting).

Balancing work, sport, and studies was no cakewalk.

Then came a turning point. One day, our mentor and later-day “guru,” General Manager (GM) – Production, walked into our modest “foreman enclosure.” My colleague and I stood up to greet him.

With authority in his voice but a smile on his face, GM asked, “At what time do you leave the factory, sir?”

My colleague and I glanced at each other, trying to be clever. I waited for him to respond so I could top his answer by half an hour. He probably had the same idea. Our silence gave us away.

Sensing the game, GM handed each of us a sheet of paper. “Write it down,” he said.

Cornered, we scribbled some inflated timings. The general shift ended at 4:30 PM — but I think we wrote 5:30 or 6:00 PM to sound committed.

He looked at both sheets and calmly asked, “Why are you overstaying after 4:30 PM?”

We mumbled excuses: pending decisions, work pressure, wanting to finish tasks…

Then came the gem of wisdom.

“The factory runs in three shifts. If people are waiting for your decisions, stay here 24 hours! But otherwise, come early and finish your work. When you stay late, you’re tired, your mind is cluttered, and everyone dumps their problems on you. Mistakes happen. But if you come early, you’re fresh, focused, and faster.”

That advice struck a chord.

From then on, I made it a point to leave sharp at 4:30 PM. If something was pending, I went early the next day and tackled it with a fresh mind.

---

Working Beyond Work Hours

That’s not to say I’ve never stayed late. I’ve pulled more than a few all-nighters — working past midnight, sometimes leaving at 2 or 3 AM and returning at 7:30. But those were the exceptions, not the rule.

This balance allowed me to grow professionally and personally — I played tennis, pursued higher studies, and still delivered results at work.

---

So... What’s the “Right” Number of Hours?

Is there a magic number — 48, 70, or 90 hours?

Should working hours be a matter of personal commitment or employer expectation?

Should everything after work hours be “your life”?

The truth lies somewhere in between — in the grey zone we call work ethics.

---

Paid for Time, or Paid for Responsibility?

On the shop floor, time is everything — cycle time, TAKT time, productivity targets. Operators are accountable for output per hour, measured through scientific means.

But “staff” — supervisors, finance folks, HR, engineers — aren’t paid for hours clocked in, but for responsibilities one carries.

That’s where it gets tricky. Unlike machines or production workers, there's no universal way to measure white-collar productivity. It’s not about hours — it’s about value, initiative, and ownership.

The onus lies on both the employee and the manager to strike a balance: enough work to challenge, not so much that it overwhelms. A delicate dance, without a stopwatch.

---

The Ant Story

Photo credit: GuidoB

I often share this little story about ants.

Imagine a colony of ants discovers a sack of rice. Does any one ant have a quota? Is there a "boss ant" assigning targets?

No.

Each ant simply keeps going — back and forth, carrying grain after grain, without counting.

There’s no finish line. Just purposeful motion.

Shouldn’t we be more like that?

Driven not by hours, targets, or someone’s scoreboard — but by an internal sense of purpose?

---

Conclusion: Work as Passion, Not a Chore

Work should never feel like a chore. It should be something we enjoy, something that fuels us. A chance to prove something — not to the world, but to ourselves.

If we think of work this way, all these debates about 48–70–90 hours become irrelevant.

When work becomes passion, it becomes seamless. Fulfilling. And that’s when we truly give our best — not just to our jobs, but to society.