Narayana Murthy in his latest statement has asked his working staff to return to their offices as soon as possible. He said that productivity has gone low because of this Work From Home culture.
Ending Work From Home culture
In a statement, the Infosys head, Narayana Murthy has said that it was time to end the Work From Home Culture. “If people worked from home it was very difficult to cultivate a culture of hard work, imagination, excellence, intuition, meritocracy, discussion, and debate,” he said.
Mr. Murthy has also urged firms to facilitate their staff to return to work now that the worst of the pandemic seemed to be over.
“I am not a big supporter of work from home at all. If people worked from home, it will be difficult to foster a culture of hard work, imagination, excellence, intuition, meritocracy, discussion, and debate”, the IT veteran remarked at DH’s Bengaluru 2040 event on Friday, mentioning the negative influence on business culture.
He further said in a virtual session, “When people work from home, that institutional culture will gradually become weaker and weaker.”
Working from home is not a possible option in a country like India, where many employees live in multi-generational households, have poor Internet speed, and do not have a separate area to convert into a home office.
While working from home was critical during the worst of the pandemic, Murthy urged corporate citizens to return to the office to increase productivity, which was critical for a country like India that aimed to surpass China in terms of per capita GDP.
The declining economy
Pointing out at Bangladesh’s growing GDP, he said, ” India’s production is lower than Bangladesh’s, a country founded a little over four decades ago. The numbers say that India’s per capita income in the fiscal years 2020–21 was slightly over $1,900, corresponding to $2,227 in Bangladesh and $12,551 in China.
Murthy also mentioned the rapid development of Germany, after the 1940s, when workers put in “over 16 hours a day, six days a week” to revamp the country’s economy post-WWII.
“I believe in mimicking that as it is the only way we can raise our economy and follow China,” Murthy added.
Many businesses, particularly those in the information technology sector, allowed workers to work from home during the pandemic, but are now trying to rehire them.
“My wish is that all the companies get back to the office at the earliest,” Murthy stated.
