Many company founders and business executives expect their employees to work until they simply can’t work anymore. This misguided rhetoric that we need to be chained to our desks for every minute of the day is exhausting and damaging.
One company founder seems to realize this, admitting that he doesn’t agree with the “work till you’re dead” mindset — at least not for lower-level employees.
The founder called overtime ‘evil’ and urged team members to only work 7 hours a day.
Abhijit Chakraborty is the founder of the marketing agency Alphanumero. In a LinkedIn posthe condemned the concept of overtime.
“As a founder, I work 12, 15, sometimes 18 hours a day,” he wrote. “But I have given my team strict instructions to log in for eight hours and log out in seven hours if possible.”
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Chakraborty understands that he has far more at stake in the company than his employees and doesn’t expect the same kind of dedication from them. Just because he works long days doesn’t mean his team members must, too.
“When a company grows, the founders and leaders earn disproportionate rewards,” he added. “It’s dumb to expect young team members working for a salary to invest their time and energy that deeply.”
He clarified that there’s nothing wrong with employees choosing to go above and beyond and work extra hours. However, their efforts should be met with appropriate rewards and compensation.
“Seventy hours of weekly work is evil if it only lines the pockets of the ones at the top,” he insisted.
It’s refreshing to see a company leader actively criticize the expectation to overwork.
The idea of working 70 hours a week definitely doesn’t appeal to most Americans, many of whom already abhor the standard 40-hour work week.
Yet, many bosses expect their employees to work until their bones ache, they are burnt out, and they have no work-life balance. In fact, according to data from 2023, 65% of employees admit to suffering from burnout.
“I know for a fact that squeezing the last drop of blood from your team isn’t the only way to get success,” Chakraborty wrote in a comment. “Honest, limited hours of work from a happy team can get you success too.”
“No employee of any company, big or small, should drop dead one day due to work stress,” he added. “There’s more to life than that.”
Many Americans would take a pay cut to work for a better company.
According to a survey from automaker Ford52% of polled employees worldwide said they’d take a 20% pay cut to achieve a lifestyle that prioritizes their quality of life. The percentage of Americans who feel the same isn’t too far off, at 51%.
Seventy-two percent of U.S. workers said they don’t think it’s worth it to work at a job that increases their personal stress.
Business leaders and founders should take a page out of Chakraborty’s book and show compassion towards their employees.
After all, ignoring workers’ needs not only leads to excessive burnout but also high levels of turnover because, frankly, people don’t want to work for a company that doesn’t care about their well-being.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
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