Recently, a video of Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has gone viral on Instagram where he is seen remarking “This Saturday-Sunday off is not an Indian thing”.
The video is an old one however the startup founder’s opinion on work-life balance has become evident, especially in light of a few recent incidents of deaths of employees because of overworking.
Bhavish Aggarwal’s take on work-life balance
Many netizens have found Aggarwal’s video quite disturbing. On work-life balance, the Indian entrepreneur has remarked: “I don’t think that work-life balance is the right construct. This Saturday-Sunday off is not an Indian thing; this is a western thing. In India, we never had Saturdays and Sundays.”
Referring to the Indian calendar, he said: “We had a lunar calendar, and our holidays were based on that; we only had one or two days monthly. We never had Saturdays or Sundays; this is a western import.”
Elaborating further the Ola founder said: “So when the Industrial Revolution happened, Saturdays and Sundays became rest days for manual labour; that is why Saturdays and Sundays are relevant today, but in the modern age, they are not. If I look a few decades ahead, I don’t think work is about five days and then off.”
Netizens angered by Aggarwal’s remarks
Instagrammers did not feel right about Aggarwal’s opinion on holidays and work-life balance and they immediately started bashing him in the comments.
One user wrote, “The language he speaks is western the dress he wears is western. The technology he works with are western… Actually these people are the reason we as country can’t develop. Inko chahiye robot aur hum thehre insaan (they want robots but we are humans).”
Another user added, “Tomorrow he will say salary is a western concept. Sham ko daal roti dal denge, kha lena, aur side me chaddar bichake so jana.”
Someone else commented: “Just because you want to earn on the expense of poor laborers even on Saturday and Sunday doesn't mean they don't have the right to rest after working 60 hours in Monday to Friday.”
“They need western clients for growth ...but don't want western culture of holidays ( Saturday and Sunday) .... Hypocrisy ki bhi Seema hoti hai,” wrote a fourth user.
Also read: Indians celebrate good billionaires like Tata, Premji, Mahindra and dislike those who flaunt wealth – Harsh Goenka's reply to Nithin Kamath (startuppedia.in)