Pushing the workers too hard cannot keep pace; A different way of thinking is needed: Zoho CEO Vembu – News18

Amid intense debate in India Inc over high-stress workplaces, Zoho CEO and co-founder Sridhar Vembu said companies that strain workers “very heavily” will not be able to keep pace and advocated the need to ” different’ thinking, to build long-term and sustainable organizations.

In an interview with PTI, the billionaire businessman and social entrepreneur said burnout, loneliness after migration to big cities, long commutes and stressful work conditions throw people into a “very big pressure cooker” as an environment.

Vembu also spoke at length about why he thinks big tech companies should be regulated and emphasized the importance of “standards” to prevent the creation and rise of digital monopolies.

An example of this is messaging services that operate in silos, he said, asking “(when) email is not a monopoly, why should messaging be a monopoly.”

On the issue of workplace stress, Vembu said that although he has put in 27-28 years and hopes to work for another 28 years if possible, he is certainly not one for the reckless pace of work that leads to burnout, nor for himself or his employees.

“I was around 27-28 years and I want to work another 28 years if possible, but that means I can’t burn out. I don’t want any of our people to get burned,” he added.

His comment takes on significance amid the tragic death of a young employee at one of the prominent consulting firms, which has sparked outrage on social media and sparked an intense debate in corporate India about high workplace stress.

This and other incidents over the past few weeks have put the social and mental well-being of workers and the importance of work-life balance into the spotlight.

Vembu said depression and burnout were real issues and stressed the need for “balance”. According to him, any company that pushes its employees hard cannot sustain its pace in the long run.

“And then there’s a second factor. We bring together young people from different places, smaller towns to big cities. And the first problem is, of course, loneliness. They come to work alone. And we see this problem ourselves… We have faced it. The second thing is, of course, commuting and 1-2 hour commutes are now increasingly the norm in our cities, with Bengaluru being a classic example,” he said.

As loneliness, long commutes, stressful work conditions all take their toll, being overworked only makes things worse.

“… So you already have loneliness, long commutes, stressful working conditions… So, you’re throwing people into a very big pressure cooker and it’s very tragic that some people are broken, other people are broken,” he said, championing the need for companies to diversify and establish a presence in smaller towns.

“I believe that’s why we need to diversify geographically. Every activity doesn’t have to be in one place and we have to think differently about how we build long-term companies,” said Vembu, who is known for his zeal for rural India and whose technology company Zoho operates on the philosophy that global class products can be created anywhere.

On India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, or DPI, Vembu called it a “shining success story.”

“India has emerged as a very strong player in this area. In fact, we are a world leader in this. I don’t believe any other country has so much investment in DPI and these many standards coming out… be it ONDC, health stack and all that. And in that we are ahead of much of the developed world,” he said.

DPIs are also critical in preventing the formation of monopolies as they control standards.

“As an example, where a standard is not yet in place … messaging platforms do not interoperate with others. On the other hand, emails interact.

“Technically it’s possible to interact, but right now it’s locked down by our own players. The government can force this open by giving it a mandate…that you want to operate in India, we want messaging standards. I would strongly support it because there is no reason for monopolies in them,” he said.

He further noted that “standards are very important. DPI plays a vital role. We are very happy to play our part in this.”

(This story was not edited by News18 staff and was published by a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)