Capgemini CEO advocates 47.5-hour workweek, bans weekend emails
MUMBAI, INDIA — Amid the ongoing debate on work hours in India‘s corporate sector, Capgemini India CEO Ashwin Yardi has advocated for a 47.5-hour workweek while firmly opposing the practice of sending emails to employees during weekends.
Speaking at the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum (NTLF) in Mumbai, Yardi offered a more moderate stance compared to his industry peers. “Forty-seven and half hours. We have about nine hours a day and five days a week,” he said when asked about the ideal working hours.
Work-life balance approach
His position stands in contrast to IT industry leader and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, who has been pitching for a 70-hour work week, and Larsen & Toubro’s Chairman S N Subrahmanyan, who called for a 90-hour work week.
Yardi emphasized his commitment to maintaining work-life boundaries. “My guiding principle for the last four years is don’t send an e-mail on a weekend even if it is an escalation unless you know you can solve it on a weekend,” he stated.
While acknowledging that he sometimes works on weekends himself, Yardi stressed that he refrains from unnecessarily burdening employees with weekend emails. “There is no point just to give ‘grief’ to an employee knowing well that the work cannot be done on a weekend,” he added.
Focus on outcomes over hours
Other industry leaders at the same event shared similar perspectives on work-life balance. Nasscom chairperson Sindhu Gangadharan, who also leads SAP’s India operations, emphasized that “outcomes should matter more than the work.”
Marico’s chief executive Saugata Gupta also focuses on results rather than hours worked, though he admitted to sending emails as late as 11 PM.
Yardi also highlighted the importance of adapting to younger employees’ expectations in the IT sector. He mentioned that Capgemini has implemented quarterly promotion cycles, six-week employee surveys, and structured career path planning to support employee growth and engagement. The company ranked #5 in the OA500 2024 index of top outsourcing companies. The 2025 edition of OA500 will be released soon.
