Top Indian CEO under fire for seeking seven-day work week

The CEO of one of India’s largest conglomerates, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has come under fire after advocating for a 90-hour work week. During an interaction with employees, S N Subrahmanyan, chairman of L&T, which has interests from infrastructure to IT and defense, said he “regrets” he is “not able to make you work on Sundays.”  

“If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays,” Subrahmanyan was heard telling employees in an undated video that has emerged on Reddit. “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wife stare at husband?” he asked. 

Subrahmanyan gave the example of the Chinese, who work 90 hours a week, suggesting that “if you have got to be on top of the world.. You have to work 90 hours a week.” 

His statement went viral on social media and drew sharp criticism from all sections of society. Harsh Goenka, the chairman of RPG Enterprises, in a post on X wrote: “90 hours a week? Why not rename Sunday to ‘Sun-duty’ and make ‘day off’ a mythical concept!” “Work-life balance isn’t optional, it’s essential,” he added.   

The billionaire founder and chairman of Marico Ltd., a consumer goods company, suggested “undeniably, hard work is the backbone of success, but it is not about the hours clocked in.”  

Thousands of social media users also targeted Subrahmanyan, pointing out his significantly higher earnings compared to the average employee of the conglomerate. Subrahmanyan took home a total salary of around $6 million (510 million Indian rupees) in 2023-2), according to company filings. This is 500 times more than the average salary at L&T.  

Celebrities, including top Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, slammed the L&T chief’s 90-hour work week remark, highlighting the fact that such an approach would be bound to create mental health issues.  

However, some users felt that the L&T chairman had a point and responded with memes. Others questioned the context of his remarks and also pointed out that L&T is building massive infrastructure projects both in the country and abroad, and these are assets that people criticizing Subrahmanyan are proud of.   

The statements added fuel to the existing debate on working hours versus productivity sparked by Narayana Murthy, the founder of the India-based tech giant Infosys, who in 2023 suggested that young workers in India should log at least 70 hours per week, suggesting that this is “what Germans and Japanese did” after World War II.  

Some industry watchers opined that assessing the number of hours is a poor way of calculating work efficiency. “The quality of work put in matters. If the right teams are chosen, what can be done in 90 hours can be done in 60 also,” Mohan Lavi, former CFO and now a partner at K.P. Rao & Co told RT. He added, “With an increasing importance being given to health and work-life balance, a mandate of 90 hours would be an unnecessary target.”