After Narayana Murthy, Chairman of L&T suggests working a 90-hour week: “If I could get you to work on Sundays…”

Following Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, L&T chief SN Subrahmanyam went viral on social media for suggesting that employees should work 90 hours a week. His suggestion came during an employee interaction where he was asked why L&T continues to make its employees work on Saturdays.

He replied that he regretted not being able to get the employees to work on Sunday as well.

“I’m sorry I can’t make you work on Sunday. If I could make you work on Sunday, I’d be happier, because I work on Sunday.

He also asked employees what they do while at home. “What are you doing sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife?” asked the president. He also said: “Come on, go to the office and start working.”

To further prove his point, Subramaniam cited his interaction with a Chinese person who claimed that China was capable of overpowering the United States.

According to this individual, Chinese people work 90 hours per week while Americans only work 50 hours per week. “So this is the answer for you. If you have to be on top of the world… you have to work 90 hours a week. Go, guys. Come on.”

Needless to say, social media users were completely awestruck by this kind of work-life balance. Subramaniam’s statements earned him comparison with Narayana Murthy.

Not only this, users also mentioned that the L&T CEO would never say anything like this regarding employees working in geographies other than India.

“And here I think L&T is a good company and everyone seems to be following Narayana Murthy’s footsteps,” one user commented. Another user said: “I was there in that building yesterday. ***He wants us to work 90 hours a week. Next Narayan Murthy!!!”

“It is very unfortunate that we have such leaders in the business. I think we should call them ‘leaders in the diaper business’. I had a few close friends who worked at L&T Madras. About 10 years ago. Looking at what they said about… Work culture, felt like it was like a kindergarten for adults (sic),” a third user commented.

Another user commented: “The problem is that India has the worst conditions when it comes to proper labor laws and implementing what is there. None of these ‘business leaders’ would be able to say such things even in a capitalist country like the USA and stay away from it!” !!”

One social media user jokingly asked: “How long can you stare at your wife?” Bitch, what am I supposed to do? Staring at someone else’s wife? One user commented: “70 se 90 ghante hogya ab. Bas ab 120 ghante bolna hi bacha hai (sic)”

Another user said: “This is why the craze for government jobs has reached its peak in India. The private sector is only good at harassing employees.”

One of the founders of Infosys has called for a 70-hour work week for young people in India. In his words, the youth need to understand that “we have to work hard and work towards making India number one.”