L&T Chief’s Comment On 90-Hour Work Week Tantamount To Enslaving Employees

The fact of the matter is that L&T chief SN Subrahmanyan was paid a whopping Rs. 51.05 crore as salary for FY24. That works out to be Rs 4.25 crore a month. How many of L&T employees are getting that kind of salary? It is said that the average salary in L&T Group is around Rs 9.55 lakh! The average salaries are much less in other companies. So, expecting others to work like him is not the right thing

The issue of work culture in India has come to the fore yet again following the recent comments on the subject by Sekharipuram Narayanan Subrahmanyan, the Chairman and Managing Director of Larson & Toubro (L&T), the infrastructure major that also has its presence across sectors, including software. During an internal meeting, he advocated a 90-hour work week. That means that people should work on Sundays as well, as he does.

He also remarked about the uselessness of staring at wife on holidays and the usefulness of allocating such time to serious work at the office. Quite apparently, his comments about wives were to drive home the need to put in extra working hours for the rapid progress of the nation. Obviously, people have many things to do at home on holidays. I don’t think husbands per se will while away time staring at their wives. That may be true in the case of newly-weds, but not others!

But the key takeaway from his comments is the extra working hours for the ‘sake of the country’. Of course, he is not the first one to make such remarks. Towards the end of 2023, N.R. Narayanamurthy, co-founder of tech giant Infosys Technologies, underlined the need for Indians to work for 70 hours a week for the overall development of the country. He said so in a podcast given to Mohandas Pai, a former CFO of Infosys.

Murthy’s suggestion received backlash as many opposed it. As I wrote at that time, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had set the standard of eight-hour workday for six days a week several decades ago. This works out to 48 hours of work every week.

India still follows it though ILO has reduced the work week to 40 hours. I don’t think Indians mind working for 70 hours a week if they are paid handsomely and companies bridge salary gaps between India and many developed nations.

However, Subrahmanyan’s suggestion of the 90-hour week is tantamount to slavery at the workplace. He says he also works on Sundays. It’s good that he is doing it. And we should appreciate his worth ethic. But the fact of the matter is that he was paid a whopping Rs. 51.05 crore as salary for FY24. That works out to be mouthwatering Rs. 4.25 crore a month.

For that kind of money, he should obviously work on Sundays as well. But how many of L&T employees are drawing that kind of salary? Reportedly, the average salary in L&T Group is around Rs. 9.55 lakh. The average salaries are much less in other companies. So, expecting others to work like him is not right thing to do vis-à-vis pay structure.

As expected, his remarks ignited widespread debate about the work culture in the country, with many criticising him.

Actress Deepika Padukone also waded into the debate by bringing in mental health issues. According to her, the L&T Chairman has some mental health problems.

Given the fact that he runs a massive conglomerate with staggering annual revenues of $26 billion (FY24), I don’t think he has any mental issues. The actress wears half-naked dresses in songs without raising objections from the producers and directors. So, I don’t think people will take her comments seriously as they are well aware that she has made the comments to stay in headlines. That’s a different story though.

Anyway, a 90-hour work week is not the right solution to put the country on a fast-track growth. There are many other levers that our country and its rulers can work on.

To spur economic growth in order to emerge as a developed nation, the priority should be to make the government staff to work. To say the least, the government machinery works at such a pathetic pace that even a snail would move faster and work quicker. The public education system is no exception to this sorry state of affairs. Many people who secure government jobs are under the impression that they don’t need to work anymore after joining duty. Adding fuel to the slow pace of work is the prevalence of corruption in the government irrespective whichever political party is in power. Without addressing these effectively, it’s not easy to achieve higher economic growth for India to become a nation with higher per capita income. Donkey-like work culture takes the country nowhere except rapid burnout rates.

Furthermore, there are also lots of disparities in the country’s working environment. The information technology sector and some other sectors and the central government practice a five-day work week, but people working in other sectors and state governments slog six days a week. Why is there such a disparity in the country?

Talented youngsters obviously opt for sectors with five-day work week while other domains are forced to be content with a mediocre talent base. So, the country should have a uniform work week across the sectors, governments and industries. Given the fact that India is home to diverse cultures and multiple religions that necessitates a large number of festivals and other public holidays, six-day week sounds appropriate for all. The central government should work out modalities to boost employees’ productive output if it aspires for a higher economic growth. The public education system should also be strengthened.

To be frank, quality of work is more important than quantity. The government and private companies should focus more on improving the quality of work. If that happens, people will do more work in less time. That way, India can realise its dream of developed nation status faster and easily. Slogging out for seven days a week without any break is not the right path to Viksit Bharat! It could just boomerang.