‘How Long Can You Stare At Your Wife?’: L&T Chairman Proposes Employees To Work On Sundays, Sparks Outrage– WATCH

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New Delhi: A viral video featuring Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subhrahmanyan has sparked widespread criticism after his controversial remarks about employees working 90 hours a week, including Sundays. The comments came during an employee interaction session, where Subrahmanyan was questioned about the company's policy of requiring employees to work on Saturdays despite being a multi-billion dollar conglomerate.

L&T Chairman Suggests Employees Should Work on Sundays

An undated video of L&T Chairman SN Subrahmanyan, circulating on Reddit, has stirred controversy. In the video, Subrahmanyan is heard saying, "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."

L&T Chairman says “ he regrets he’s not able to make us work on Sunday and Sunday’s, 90hrs a week” in a response to his employee remarks
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He further added, "What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? Come on, get to the office and start working."

Subrahmanyan also shared an anecdote about his conversation with a Chinese individual, who confidently stated that China could surpass the United States. When asked why, the Chinese man explained, "Chinese people work 90 hours a week, while Americans work only 50 hours a week."

Subrahmanyan concluded by saying, "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." The remarks were made in an undated video that has since sparked widespread discussion.

The video, originally shared on Reddit, has gone viral and sparked significant backlash online. Many netizens criticised Subrahmanyan's comments as inappropriate, drawing comparisons to similar remarks made by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy last year. Murthy had suggested that young Indians should work 70 hours a week to contribute to nation-building, a statement that also faced widespread criticism at the time.

On Reddit, many users raised concerns about the expectation for low-paid employees to work the same number of hours as CEOs. One user wrote, “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.”

Another commented, “I don’t care about competing with China. Let China become number one; it doesn’t make any difference to me. I just want to sit with my family and enjoy the limited amount of time I have here on earth with my loved ones. Even after paying so much tax, there isn’t a single proper road in my entire locality.”

A third user wrote, “Even Narayan Murthy was saying 70 hours. This man saying 90 hours… my god. That’s some arrogance and ignorance.”