After Narayan Murthy’s prescription for working 70 hours a week, Larsen & Toubro Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan in an employee interaction stated that employees should work 90 hours a week and expressed his regret on not being able to make people work on Sundays.

In a viral video posted on Reddit, Subrahmanyan asked employees how long they could stare at their spouses. 

“I regret that I’m not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be happier because I work. What do you sitting at home.  “How long can you stare at your wife and wife stare at the husband? Get into the office and start working,” he said.

Further, in the video Subrahmanyan stated that employees should work 90 hours a week. 

“I was meeting with the Chinese recently and a gentleman told me that China would beat the US because Americans work 50 hours a week while the Chinese work 90 hours a week. That is the answer, we have to be at the top of the world, you have to go 90 hours a week,” he added. 

However, experts expressed shock at the L&T chief’s statements.

“Enterprise leadership today holds a varying mix of baby boomers, generation X-ers and Millennials, and it shows when recurring issues like WFH and flexibility re-emerge. The definitions of effort, intensity, consistency and productivity keep evolving with generations, and the resultant frictions are here to stay. Older generations were built on the workspace’s high touch & feel and brick-and-mortar physicality. Some industries are entitled to believe that stretching and working from the office is their mantra for success,” said Kamal Karanth, co-founder of Xpheno Executive Search, to businessline. 

“Employees would be worn out if working every day. Weekends are for getting refreshed and trying some other things than this regular work. Sometimes employees work on weekends based on work demand and if it is interesting, but it should not be a norm that every weekend employees need to work. Otherwise, there will be no motivation in the workplace and simply slogging extra hours,” posted a user on Reddit. 

“If the intention was to motivate people, this content and context would probably have the opposite effect in the current environment,” said Dony Kuriakose, Director, of EDGE Executive Search. 

L&T’s response

Larsen & Toubro stated that Subrahmanian’s comments reflected a larger ambition of India to become a developed nation. 

“At L&T, nation-building is at the core of our mandate. For over eight decades, we have been shaping India’s infrastructure, industries, and technological capabilities. We believe this is India’s decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realize our shared vision of becoming a developed nation. The Chairman’s remarks reflect this larger ambition, emphasising that extraordinary outcomes require extraordinary effort. At L&T, we remain committed to fostering a culture where passion, purpose, and performance drive us forward,” said an L&T Spokesperson.