'How long can you stare at your wife?': L&T Chairman Subrahmanyan one-ups Narayana Murthy, calls for 90-hour week

Bengaluru: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman SN Subrahmanyan advocated for 90-hour work week, with working Sundays, in an undated internal call that recently surfaced on Reddit.

He said, “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays, to be honest. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy because I work on Sundays also.” This was in response to an employee asking why L&T was making its employees work on Saturdays.

He argued in the video, “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Come on, get to the office and start working.”

He went on to recall his interaction with a Chinese person saying that China could beat the US as they work 90 hours a week, whereas employees in the US work 50 hours a week. Adding this, Subrahmanyan said that one has to work 90 hours a week.

This comes soon after controversial remarks by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, who recently advocated for a 70-hour working week.

Both remarks have made the rounds on social media, with several users criticising and comparing the comments. One Reddit user said in response to the video, “Another CEO promoting slavery shamelessly.”

These remarks come in sharp contrast to the present pursuit of work-life balance with Europe mandating a maximum of 48-hour work week, including overtime. Closer home, only recently this aspect came into focus with an Ernst and Young (EY) employee dying of cardiac arrest which was attributed to work pressure.

Interestingly, while social media was on fire over the comment on Thursday, the All India Bank Officers Confederation, in a statement, threatened nationwide strike on February 24-25 to press their demands for a 5-day work week, besides withdrawal of PLI directives that compromise their job security.

Post the sharp criticism received on Subrahmanyan’s statement, L&T backed the chairman, stating, “extraordinary outcomes require extraordinary efforts”.