Bombay Shaving Company CEO says most Indians would quit jobs if…

Shantanu Deshpande, CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, sparked a debate on work culture with his social media post. Sharing his observations in a post on LinkedIn, he claimed that most Indian employees dislike their jobs and would stop working entirely if their financial needs were met.

In the post, Deshpande said, “One of the tragic and late realizations I’ve had is – most people don’t like their jobs. If everyone in India was given sustenance money and financial security their current jobs give them, 99 per cent won’t show up to work the next day.”

The CEO’s commentary wasn’t limited to specific sectors. He pointed out that dissatisfaction spans across industries – from blue-collar workers to startups, government employees, and even insurance salesperson.

“From blue collar workforce to govt employees to gig workers to factories to insurance salesmen to banks to small business owners to even ‘fun and employee friendly startups’ like BSC (my HR is gonna kill me :)) – the story is the same. 19-20 ka farak,” he said.

Deshpande added: “And that’s the reality. Most starting points for people are zero and work is a majboori to provide for spouse, children, elderly parents, dependent siblings.”

Comapring India’s work culture to a “dangling carrot” system, he said, “To usurp someone away from their homes and families all day from morning to night, sometimes for days and weeks, with a hanging carrot of a paycheck – we just assume it’s alright to do that cos that’s what’s been happening for 250+ years. That’s how nations have been built. So we do it.”

“But increasingly I’ve found myself questioning the inequity of this,” he said.

Deshpande also touched upon the issue of wealth disparity in India, highlighting that a major share of the nation’s wealth is controlled by just 2,000 families. He stated that these families contribute less than 1.8 per cent of taxes.

“2000 families in India own 18 per cent of our national wealth. That’s just INSANE. Not sure of the numbers but they definitely do not pay even 1.8 per cent of the taxes,” he said.

He added, “These families and other ‘equity builders’ like me (v v miniscule version haha) are guilty of peddling a ‘work hard and climb up’ narrative because it’s self serving of course, but also what other option is there? We don’t know any other way.”

“One counter stat is 75 per cent of billionaires are self made. But the denominator is oh so small.”

Urging individuals with resources to be more compassionate, he concluded, “Life is very hard for most people. Very few will change that. Most people carry invisible burdens on tired shoulders and smile their way through inevitability. If you are privileged, be kind and generous and push as many people up as you can.”

Shantanu Deshpande’s post shines a light on the need for a more balanced approach to work and life in India.