- Thursday, January 09, 2025
The startup entrepreneur said, “If financial security were assured, 99 per cent wouldn’t show up to work the next day”
By: India Weekly
STARTUP entrepreneur Shantanu Deshpande has said that most Indians hate their jobs and carry on only because of regular paycheques.
He also expressed concern about the gross inequalities in Indian society where a major chunk of wealth is cornered by a minuscule minority.
The founder and CEO of personal care and grooming startup Bombay Shaving Company said in a LinkedIn post, “If financial security were assured, 99 per cent wouldn’t show up to work the next day.”
“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 (minor difference),” he wrote.
He also questioned the long-standing “work hard” mentality that has shaped economies for generations and claimed even he was guilty of propagating it.
Deshpande termed as ‘insane’ how some 2,000 families control 18 per cent of India’s wealth, and yet contribute far less than 1.8 per cent of the country’s taxes.
“Not sure of the numbers but they definitely do not pay even 1.8 per cent of the taxes. 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.”
On the other hand he said the Indian workforce is kept on its toes by dangling the carrot of regular paychecks.
Deshpande wrote, “We pull people away from their homes and families all day, sometimes for weeks, with the promise of a paycheck dangling in front of them. We’ve come to accept this because it’s been the norm for over 250 years. That’s how nations have been built, so we continue to do it.”
In conclusion, he urged the privileged to be ‘kind and generous, as “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.”
