Massive Disparities Between the Salaries of IT Company CEOs and Freshers; An Examination in light of N. Narayan Murthy's call for a 72-hour weekly workweek

Infosys founder N. Narayan Murthy”s call for a 72-hour weekly workweek to make India a better place has stirred controversy, with netizens taking sides for and against Murthy. A recent post by veteran journalist Pankaj Pachauri added a touch of spiciness to the matter, as he ironically urged youngsters to work hard to make their bosses rich, while sharing a chart published by Moneycontrol that shows the massive disparities in salary between IT company CEOs and freshers.

According to the chart, Infosys CEO”s annual pay increased to Rs. 79.75 crore in 2022 from Rs. 80 lakh in 2012, while the fresher”s salary increase was limited to Rs. 3.6 lakh from Rs. 2.75 lakh. The trend is similar across other leading IT firms, including Wipro, TCS, Tech Mahindra, L&T Infotech, and HCL.

In Wipro, CEO salary increased from Rs. 5.1 crore to Rs. 64 crore over the years 2012-2022, while freshers received a salary hike of just Rs. 1 lakh, i.e., Rs. 3.5 lakh from Rs. 2.4 lakh.

In TCS, the CEO”s annual pay increased to Rs. 34 crore from Rs. 8 crore in the last decade, while freshers” salary increased from Rs. 1.6 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh.

In Tech Mahindra, the CEO”s annual pay increased from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 29 crore, while freshers got a hike of Rs. 1 lakh.

In L&T Infotech, the CEO”s annual pay hike was from Rs. 1.63 crore to Rs. 26 crore, while freshers” salary increased from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 4.5 lakh.

In HCL, the CEO”s annual pay increased by Rs. 14 crore, while freshers received a hike of just Rs. 1.5 lakh.

With this, the average hike of the CEOs” annual pay was from Rs. 3.37 crore to Rs. 31.5 crore, while freshers” hike stood at Rs. 2.45 lakh to Rs. 3.55 lakh.

Pointing out this discrimination prevailing in the IT sector, Pachauri ironically says that a 72-hour workweek would only result in making the top brass of the company richer, and nation-building is incidental.

However, there are counterarguments that say CEOs have the advantage of having ESOPs, which makes them eligible for the company”s profits. Freshers may not have access to such a luxury. Moreover, Indian IT companies have shown 3-4X growth over the decade, and the CEOs are the persons who enable the company to achieve this by navigating through the ebb and flow.

Moreover, an IT company has to spend heavily to train freshers. In contrast, with their profound knowledge of the market and technology, CEOs make decisions that steer the company to success.