Sarcasm to criticism: Social media reacts to L&T Chairman's 90-hour work week comment

Bangaluru: Chairman of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), SN Subrahmanyan, sparked fresh controversy on Thursday regarding work-life balance by advocating for 90-hour work weeks.

In recent months, there has been a lot of talk about work culture and work-life balance. The tragic death of 26-year-old Anna Sebastian Perayil in 2024 led to a wider discussion in India about harmful work environments and the struggle to balance work and personal life.

Her story, unfortunately, is not an isolated one. Many employees, especially GenZ, have been vocal about their struggles in workplaces marked by stress, unrealistic expectations, and a lack of support.

Despite these ongoing challenges, employees' voices continue to be dismissed by many employers and high-level executives, invalidating their need for balance and well-being.

“How long can you stare at your wife?”

Recently, SN Subrahmanyan, Chairman of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), sparked fresh controversy regarding work-life balance by advocating for 90-hour work weeks.

In an undated video from what appeared to be an internal meeting, which went viral on social media on Thursday, 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."

He went on to add, "What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Get to the office and start working."

The internet came together once again to target another wealthy figure for their controversial views. Many online users condemned his remarks as outdated and dismissive of work-life balance.

One user sarcastically commented, "How long can employees stare at screens and data managers?"

Another added, "He literally said: ‘Why are you even living? Take this pile of work.’"

Several others found his comment about staring at one's spouse sexist and reflective of an anti-family mindset.

“L&T Chairman Subrahmanyan's salary is 534.57 times the median salary of L&T employees. If I’m paid 56 crore per annum plus all privileges like Larsen and Toubro chairman, forget Sunday, I’ll invent more days in a week to work. All the CEOs & CFO need to SHUT UP,” a user wrote on X.

In response, actor Deepika Padukone took to social media to express her disagreement, writing, “Shocking to see people in such senior positions make such statements. #MentalHealthMatters.”

RPG Group chairperson Harsh Goenka also sharply criticised the remarks, writing on X, "90 hours a week? Why not rename Sunday to ‘Sun-duty' and make ‘day off' a mythical concept!" He further added, “Working hard and smart is what I believe in, but turning life into a perpetual office shift? That’s a recipe for burnout, not success. Work-life balance isn’t optional, it’s essential. Well, that’s my view,” and concluded, “Work smart, not slave.”

Former badminton player Jwala Gutta also took to X to criticise the statement, writing, "I mean…first of all why shouldn’t he stare at his wife…and why only on a Sunday!” She called the statement misogynistic and frightening.

As the backlash intensified, L&T issued a statement defending the chairman's remarks. "We believe this is India's decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realise 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.”

However, the clarification only seemed to make matters worse. Deepika Padukone once again criticised the response, stating, "And they just made it worse."

Reacting to the incident Joy Bhattacharjya reflected on how many bosses from the 80s and 90s, like S Subramanyam, thrived unexpectedly due to the opportunities created by liberalisation and global changes.

"And now they've begun to believe it was just because of their talent and hard work, though more often than not they went home late just because the boys club in office, with all the attendant cronies, was far more satisfying to the ego than going home to family," he wrote on X.A study found that three out of five employees working in major Indian sectors, including IT and manufacturing, technology, and media, have experienced high or extreme stress levels, with more women facing workplace stress, according to the latest survey.

The survey found that people between 21 and 30 are the most stressed set of workers, followed by those in their 30s and 40s, and then those in the age group of 41-50 years, the survey added.

Following the footsteps of Murthy?

This isn't the first time such remarks have drawn sharp criticism. In October 2023, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy urged younger employees to work 70-hour weeks.

"India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world," he said. "Unless we improve our work productivity... we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress."

He added, "So, therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, 'This is my country. I'd like to work 70 hours a week.'"

Murthy later attempted to clarify his statement, explaining that he meant employees must be "very productive."

In a humorous response to Subrahmanyan's comment, one social media user suggested, "A new trend in India could be inter-corporate marriages between Infosys and L&T employees, fostering long-lasting alliances where couples dedicate their lives to their respective offices and eventually reunite at retirement."

In yet another controversial incident involving an Indian millionaire, OLA CEO Bhavish Aggarwal made headlines for suggesting that weekends were not an "Indian thing."

A clip from one of his earlier interviews, where he shared his views on work-life balance, went viral. In the interview, he argued that having weekends off was a "Western cultural import."

"I don't think work-life balance is the right construct. Again, it's a contrarian view. There will be people who will disagree with me," he said.

"Many people will disagree with me, but I believe... Let me actually take a historical perspective first, and then I'll tell you... the philosophy I live by. This Saturday-Sunday break is not an Indian tradition. It’s a Western thing," he explained.

"In India, we never had Saturdays and Sundays. We followed the Lunar Calendar and took holidays based on that. We had one or two days off a month. Then, it became a Western cultural import, and then the industrial revolution happened..." he added.

Social media users were quick to point out the irony, with one commenter saying, “Ola is a rip-off of another Western import.”

The ongoing debate over work culture and the importance of work-life balance in India highlights the growing divide between employees' needs and the attitudes of some corporate leaders.

These controversial remarks, whether about 90-hour work weeks or dismissing the concept of weekends have sparked widespread backlash, showing the need for a more empathetic and balanced approach to work.