Bombay Shaving Company CEO faces flak for ‘18-hour workday’ advice

Shantanu Deshpande, founder and CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, has ignited a social media controversy with a post advising freshers and young people to work 18 hours a day in the formative years of their careers.

On Tuesday, Deshpande took to LinkedIn to advise young professionals to “worship” their work and put in the grind for the first four or five years to “build flex”.

“I see a lot of youngsters who watch random content all over and convince themselves that 'work-life balance, spending time with family, rejuvenation bla bla' is important,” he wrote.


“Don't do random rona-dhona. Take it on the chin and be relentless. You will be way better for it,” he added.

But netizens looked in no mood to take his advice, and came down heavily on him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

“This is absolutely bullsh*t advice. I do not want to work for someone for even 10 hours a day and you are suggesting people to work for 18?” said Huzefa Bagwala, a furniture designer. “This is the kind of toxic work culture oldies provide. This is a classic case of industrial-age work toxicity. Where do you guys come from? Work is just a small part of a very huge life that you have. Do not fall victim to this uncle's work culture.”

Deshpande’s comments come at a time when many employees are questioning traditional ideas of “grinding it out” at all costs, particularly since the advent of pandemic-induced work-from-home culture.

“Quiet quitting” is the latest reflection of this. The trend has emerged in recent months, and while the definition is unclear, the idea is that more workers are no longer going above and beyond for their companies, choosing instead to focus on their work-life balance.

Deshpande also faced criticism on Twitter after screenshots of his LinkedIn post were shared on the platform.


“18 hours a day?! I am not in my 20s anymore, but if you are please don't listen to him. Will only give you a lifetime of back pain and stress!” tweeted Ishita Mazumder.


Seeking to quell the outage, Deshpande asked his critics to speak to employees at Bombay Shaving Company to understand the culture he was professing.