With Elon Musk reigniting the debate on extreme workweeks through his latest remarks on government employees getting weekends off, Kotak Mahindra AMC’s Nilesh Shah has questioned whether the Tesla chief will face the same backlash as L&T Chairman SN Subramanyan (SNS) and Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy (NRM)—or will he be praised simply “because he is Elon Musk?”
Writing on X (formerly Twitter), Shah highlighted how Musk’s comments could spark a reaction similar to the one faced by Murthy for advocating a 70-hour workweek and Subramanyan for suggesting a 90-hour workweek. “It will be interesting to see how people react to this comment. Will he get memes like NRM and SNS, or will he get appreciation because he is Elon Musk?” he wrote.
The debate started when Musk replied to a post on X about the US Department of Energy’s pace of reforms, commenting: “Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days! Working the weekend is a superpower” .
One user quipped: “It’s hard to be a parent and work on weekends. At least for normal people without nannies and jets.” Another wrote: “Imagine not showing up on weekends. Couldn’t be me.” Meanwhile, some pushed back against Musk’s take, saying, “Can you imagine a society where everyone works seven days a week? There’s more to life than work.”
While Elon Musk hasn’t directly commented on the 90-hour workweek, an old 2018 post resurfaced amid the backlash against Subramanyan’s remarks. At the time, Musk had declared: “Nobody ever changed the world with 40 hours a week.”
Encouraging people to join Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Company, and Neuralink, Musk said, “There are way easier places to work, but if you love what you do, it (mostly) doesn’t feel like work.” When asked about the “correct” number of hours to truly make an impact, Musk responded: “Varies per person, but about 80 sustained, peaking above 100 at times.”
Given the widespread criticism faced by Murthy and Subramanyan for advocating longer work hours, Shah’s question takes center stage—will Musk’s take on “working weekends as a superpower” spark similar outrage, or will he escape criticism because of his cult-like following?
While Murthy’s 70-hour workweek comment led to days of backlash and memes, and Subramanyan’s 90-hour workweek remark was met with strong opposition, Musk’s comments often draw admiration rather than criticism. Whether this time will be any different remains to be seen.