Pick something you love doing, experiment and put in effort in the early years but don’t forget your health, is the more nuanced consensus on the 18-hour workdays and hustle culture debate sparked off by Bombay Shaving Company CEO Shantanu Deshpande’s LinkedIn post.

“When you are 22 and new in your job, throw yourself into it. Eat well and stay fit, but put in the 18-hour days for at least 4-5 years,” he wrote in a post on the professional networking site earlier this week.

Start-ups, while holding a great attraction especially for the young employees for the workforce with their perceived flexible and casual atmosphere, pool tables and free food and drinks, are also known for their sweatshop-like working styles, especially closer to high-pressure deadlines.

“At start-ups, there is no expectation of hours of work. You are expected to take ownership & initiative, and get things done without being told or reminded. There can be periods when you need to put in long hours and periods when you would have the regular work hours, but honestly more of the former, especially if your start-up is creating disruption and growing gangbusters,” says T.N. Hari, co-founder of Artha School of Entrepreneurship, and former HR Head of bigbasket, says it becomes important to pick jobs which you will love so that long hours don’t burn you out.

Sanam Rawal, Partner at Passion Connect, the HR advisory firm of Blume Ventures, says that today founders, unfortunately, create a work ethic for themselves due to their goals of reaching the top and expect everyone else to believe the same which is not appreciated. “The chaotic and fast changing experiences of a start-up lead employees to believe it is ok to be working 18-20 hours a day for an outcome that is super blurry to them. This is where HR comes into the picture. To ensure that people don’t burn out, the HR needs to be there to mediate and guide founders on what is expected out of the employees," Rawal says.

After facing serious backlash for his post, Deshpande in another post on Thursday eventually apologised and said it would be his last post on LinkedIn.
Source: BusinessToday