After Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, L&T chairman SN Subrahmanyam has gone viral on social media for his suggestion that employees must work 90 hours a week. His suggestion came during an employee interaction wherein he was asked why L&T is still making its employees work on Saturdays.
To this, he replied that he regrets not being able to make employees work on Sunday as well.
“I regret I am 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 saying in an undated video.
He further questioned the employees on what they do while they’re home. “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife?” the chairman asked. He further said: “Come on, get to the office and start working.”
To substantiate his point further, Subrahmanyam cited his interaction with a Chinese person who claimed that China could beat the USA.
As per this individual, Chinese people work 90 hours a week whereas Americans work only 50 hours a week. “So that’s the answer for you. If you have got to be on top of the world.. You have to work 90 hours a week. Get going, guys. Come on.”
Needless to say, social media users were absolutely aghast at such a take on work-life balance. Subrahmanyam’s remarks earned him a comparison with Narayana Murthy.
Not only this, users also mentioned that the L&T chairman would never say such a thing in relation to employees working in geographies other than India.
“And here I’m thinking L&T is a good company, seems like everyone’s following Narayana Murthy’s footsteps,” a user commented. A second user said: “I was there in this townhall yesterday. *** wants us to work for 90hrs per week. NEXT NARAYAN MURTHY!!!”
“So unfortunate, we have such business leaders. I think we must call them “leaders in baby diapers”. I had a few close friends who worked at L&T Madras. About 10 years ago. Going by what they said about the work culture, I felt it was like an adults’ kindergarten (sic),” a third user commented.
Another user commented: “The problem is that India has one of the shittiest condition when it comes to proper labour laws and the implementation of what’s there. None of these “business leaders” will be able to say such things even in a capitalist nation like USA and get away with it!!!”
A social media user asked in jest: ” ‘How long can you stare at your wife?’ Bitch, what am I supposed to do? Stare at someone else’s wife?” A user commented: “70 se 90 ghante hogya ab. Bas ab 120 ghante bolna hi bacha hai (sic)”
Yet another user said: “That’s why the craze for government jobs is at its peak in India. Private sector is only good at harassing employees.”
The Infosys co-founder advocated for a 70-hour work week for India’s youth. IN his words, young people need to understand “we have to work hard and work towards making India number one.”