Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani has offered a humorous take on the much-debated subject of work-life balance that has been raging on in the Indian corporate world. Insisting that enjoying one’s work is essential to achieving work-life balance, Adani quipped in a media interview, “Aath ghanta family ke saath bitayega toh biwi bhaag jaayegi (Wife will run away if eight hours are spent with family).”
Adani said work-life balance is a matter of personal choice.”Your idea of work-life balance should not be imposed on me and my idea shouldn’t be imposed on you. Say, someone spends 4 hours with family and finds joy in it, or if someone else spends 8 hours and enjoys it, that is their work-life balance…”
Adani remarks follow NRN’s suggestion of 70-hr work week
Talking about work-life balance, Adani group chairman Gautam Adani said, “Say, someone spends four hours with family and finds joy in it, or if someone else spends eight hours and enjoys it, that is their work-life balance. However, if you spend eight hours with your family, biwi bhaag jayegi (Wife will run away).”
The Adani group chairman’s comments came amid ongoing debate and discussions sparked by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy‘s suggestion of a 70-hour work week. Murthy has previously spoken about working up to 90 hours a week during his career and has positioned hard work as a responsibility for those who have benefited from govt-subsidised education.
The honcho insisted work-life balance is achieved when individuals engage in activities they enjoy. “Your work and life are balanced when you do things that you like doing. For us, it is either family or work; we don’t have a world other than that. Our children also notice the same and imbibe it. They are also equally hard working,” Adani said.
He believes acknowledging one’s mortality simplifies life. “Personal character and humility are the most important things. The rest, according to me, is all artificial, including your wealth, etc. What you eat, I eat. What money gives you is the power to decide what and how you can impact by using it. Everyone is passing through the journey of life. Nobody is here to live permanently. When a person understands this, life becomes simple,” he said.
