BuzzFix: Why the 'CEO Hustle Culture' is Uncool in 2022

LinkedIn is a haven for startup CEOs who wrap the idea of ‘working overtime’ in a pretty package of ‘hustle culture’. Basically, asking employees to slog it out so the CEO can mint more money. Romanticising overworking and not having a life outside their professional sphere is the foundation stone of hustle culture. The rewards of promotion, salary hike and of course, success, are what hustle culture aims to achieve. And it’s hard to not fall for such perks, even if it comes with a statutory warning ‘injurious to health’.

The grind needs to stop

Recently, founder-CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, Shantanu Deshpande, shared his apparent ‘success mantra’ for freshers, which is “18-hour work days for at least 4-5 years without random rona-dhona.” The advice was slammed online for ignoring the need for healthy boundaries at work, which is currently at the centre of the ‘quiet quitting’ trend. He continues to add that “work – life balance, spending time with family and rejuvenation is not important in your early years.” Forget being in the moment and enjoying the small joys of life, Deshpande has taken the adage work is worship to a whole new level. Because youngsters read a lot of “random content” which misleads them to believe that they deserve a personal life, too.

In a 2018 Vox interview, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that he used to pull off 120-hour work weeks during the production of Model 3 sedan. He added that “everyone at Tesla worked 100 hours per week” at times, which was “necessary for the company to survive.” The same year, he tweeted the magic number to “change the world.” According to Musk, people who work 40 hours a week cannot change the world, but the ones who work 80 – 100 hours a week apparently can. In other words, work is life or vice versa for the people who are fit to change the world.

In a now-deleted post, co-founder of Pristyn care, a healthcare startup, Harsimarbir Singh lists out some interview hacks to spot “specially driven” people, which Twitterati have pointed out to be problematic. Singh has used these pointers to filter out people with the right attitude by calling candidates after hours to check if they are early risers and late workers. The ability of an outstation candidate to report on location within one day’s notice is a sign of a hustler, as per Singh’s method.

A user, who replied to the post shared on Twitter, added that he had worked at Singh’s company for three months.”This guy seriously wants everyone to work at least 12 hours a day in the office. He used to scold/shout at the employees in front of 60-70 people. I have seen some of them crying too,” he wrote.

Dominant in the advertising industry and popularised by the tech revolution, hustle culture is just a glorified version of the less glamorous workaholism, coined in the early 70s. Open social media and you are in a rabbit hole of ‘hustle > sleep’, ‘living everyday like a hustle’, ‘hustle 24/7 than slave 9-5’ affirmations.Having a side hustle, aside from your main profession, is seen as inspirational and challenging, notwithstanding its mental health ramifications. The promise of financial success at a young age by stopping at nothing is easily alluring, which often ends at burnout and depression. In hustle culture, you never log out from work.

The need to hit pause

Unemployment in India hit a four-decade high in 2019. In August 2022, India’s unemployment rate zoomed to a one-year high of 8.3 per cent, as per data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). With the threat of a looming global recession and essential goods becoming dear, jobs are definitely dearer to the common man. It has evoked a sense of unhealthy gratitude to their profession that strives to constantly outwork competition. Hence, it’s not surprising that the youth is easily drawn into the trappings of hustle culture. Not to mention the low pay scales which refuse to rise according to the peaking inflation. However, unlike millennials, Gen Z has initiated conversations about prioritising mental health and self care over relentless work, which is scary for companies who are used to milking labour. Work-fatigue is no longer considered a desired trophy in the younger generation.

Indian parents and the obsession with high flying careers for their kids to be one up against their neighbour’s child has led to compromising of happiness. A 2015 global survey by HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management found that 51 per cent of Indians wanted their children to have successful careers over a happy life, unlike in US, Canada and China, where health and happiness precede professional success. Health, too, was a relatively lower concern for Indian parents.

A 2021 WHO study published in the journal Environment International found that people working 55 or more hours per week are at a 35 per cent higher risk of suffering from a stroke and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared to people doing the usual 35 to 40 weekly work hours. The global study also found that in 2016, overwork killed 745,000 people.

Hustle culture may bring out the worst or best in people. While some people experience increased productivity and discipline from hustling, for others it may end up in stress and affect efficiency. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, an overworked, stressed person is at least 68 per cent less productive. Instead of exhorting employees to sacrifice their quality time, what CEOs can instead do is encourage them to strike a fine balance between professional and personal life with flexible work hours, locations and satisfactory pay. The post-pandemic world has put the spotlight on the importance of pause, breathe and break. Work is supposed to supplement life, not encroach upon it.

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