Exploitation or Ambition - Debating the Ethics of 90-Hour Work Weeks

Here’s a catch: it is widely believed (mostly by Indian CEOs) that 70-90-hour workweeks can lead to India’s development and economic rise. How much truth lies in this statement? Here’s a glimpse of our (the author’s) take on this.

This discussion originated with Elon Musk’s (CEO of Tesla and SpaceX) comment of “nobody changed the work on 40 hours a week,” followed by Narayan Murthy (co-founder of Infosys) suggesting that young Indians should work 70 hours a week to enhance the nation’s productivity, and this was fully supported by Bhavish Aggarwal (CEO of Ola), and the final bomb:

In January of 2025, in the town townhall of L&T, the chairman shared that he “regretted not having his employees work on Sundays” when he was questioned why the company works on Saturdays as well, fully supporting all the discussions above.

This shook LinkedIn, Reddit, and career influencers to their core. Everyone was baffled and wrote articles criticizing this comment, writing about work-life balance, mental exhaustion, burnout, and whatnot. This sparked a major debate between productivity and work-life balance. The internet went into a fit of rage; a lot of people had a lot of things, questioning the audacity of these comments and coming to the real question—is this exploitation or is this ambition? The response to all the critique was a statement that said the sentiment behind the statement was more to promote nationalism and the growth of India’s economy. One might think, “Hey, that’s not all wrong. Higher work hours lead to higher productivity, and higher productivity leads to better business; that makes sense.” Let’s dive in a little deeper on this particular thought.

Let’s break down the 90 hours into a week. If it’s a 7-day work week, that is 12.8+ hours per day (including Sunday), 15 hours per day for a 6-day work week, and 18 hours per day for a 5-day work week.  How feasible is that? The current workforce follows 8-9 hours per day as the working hours, and especially considering the disparity in income levels, it is as close as it gets to exploitation to expect minimum wage workers to work more than 40 hours per week.

If we dive deeper into the discussion for a productive outcome, let’s also touch on what could be a sustainable middle ground or alternative. It is probably universal agreement that there is no such thing as “one-size-fits-all.”  This concept does not exist in clothes, nor in balanced diets, and neither does it in work-life balance. Before we delve into the middle ground, let's see what the case could be for individuals who support the rigorous hustle lifestyle and for those who are not in favor of it.

Long work hours = ambition 

• This is seen as pure dedication and immense hard hardwork. Those who run behind hard hardwork gain success, eventually. 

• These long hours are generally applauded and often rewarded, and the feeling of that reward, that feeling, is chased over and over again. 

• There are definitely people who thrive in such fast-paced environments; severe competition drives them, and putting in these hours is what makes them genuinely happy. 

• Founders often sacrifice everything to see their idea, their “baby,” make it big. 

Long work hours = exploitation: 

• Humans are NOT robots. They face burnout and exhaustion.  Human bodies are not biologically functional without adequate rest.  This same burnout and exhaustion leads to a major dip in productive outcomes. 

• Putting in long hours does not equal greater productivity. Some roles require smart work, not hard work. People follow the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, which states that 80% of results come from 20% of causes. 

• Long hours are expected due to the same people who thrive in such environments. This social expectation leads to all the negative workplace issues (conflicts, comparisons, etc.) 

Considering the various segments/sectors that make a major difference in the growth of the country, a few options can be discussed:

1. Intentional/voluntary overwork: People who thrive in the hustle lifestyle can contribute what they think is satisfactory. Longer hours should be a choice and not simply expected from employees as an obligation. 

2. Sector-based approaches: Startups require longer hours for the company to even get to a break-even point. Growth is secondary. For a company that has existed for merely 2-5 years, the major focus should be on continuing their existence. Manual labor, underpaid workers cannot sustain longer hours. 

3. Quality over quantity: quality of working hours > quantity of working hours. Not every meeting needs to exist; if the conversation is winding up on email, let it stay there. 

4. Upskilling: India’s major economic growth is rooted in its agriculture sector—and to be on par with the economic growth rate of countries like China and Germany, the quality of education in India should also match them. 

This article is not to criticize, defame, or point out anything; the end goal remains the same. The plan of action might vary just a little bit