In an interview with ET Now, Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy provided his inputs on the ways India could revive its economy. He focused on people getting used to Coronavirus for the next few months while also he stressed on the work hours of the employees and the precautions companies could take.
Precautions a company could take
NR Narayana Murthy said that the future steps of companies must be based on strong data research and evidence. While protection gear is a must for each employee, the company could have to take extra precautions to protect the vulnerable section of the employees.
Mr. Murthy said: “We could operate three shifts in a one or two shift company to improve social distancing. We could use gowns, masks, gloves, goggles for low-risk employees to attend factories. I would have made an analysis and said, let the less vulnerable work with protective gear and let elderly people work from home or from their own offices. Let data lead us to the decisions, we should not rely on opinions.“
Work hours for Indians in the future
The Infosys founder felt that the employees will have to be committed to working hard and long to revive the economy. He said: “We should take a pledge that we will work ten hours a day, six days a week – as against 40 hours a week – for the next 2-3 years so that we can fast-track and grow the economy much faster. On the side of the government, they should appoint a committee of well-respected and accomplished people to advise them on how to remove hassles for these businesses, like during the economic reforms of 1991. If we did these two, by and large, we will come out of this much stronger.”
Regarding Work From Home options for the employees, he added: “The need of the hour is to improve productivity. While it is a great idea to say that we’ll all work from home, unless there is a clear productivity standard that we have defined, unless every one of us is asked to achieve that productivity standard, [work from home] won’t work. First let every industry – finance, information technology, etc. – define productivity standards for work from home. Once this is defined for each designation, then you can work from anywhere you want.”
Source: The News Minute
