In the wake of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan’s controversial comments about employees working 90-hour work weeks, public figures across industries have voiced their concerns.
Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone, last seen in Singham Again, was one of the first to call out the remarks, sharing the company’s statement on her Instagram stories with the caption, “And they just made it worse.”
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Subrahmanyan’s remarks were made during an internal employee interaction, where he urged his workforce to adopt a gruelling work ethic, even questioning what employees to at home and suggesting that long hours were key to India’s success. “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Come on, get to the office and start working,” he said.
L&T’s official statement after the remarks went viral further fuelled the debate, with the company arguing that extraordinary outcomes require extraordinary efforts, and reaffirming its commitment to India’s growth vision. “At L&T, nation-building is at the core of our mandate,” the statement read. “We remain committed to fostering a culture where passion, purpose, and performance drive us forward.”
Read more: L&T defends chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan amid backlash over 90-hour workweek remarks
However, Padukone was not the only celebrity to express disapproval.
Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj also weighed in, sharing his thoughts. He emphasized the need to prioritise the quality of work over sheer time invested. “Number of hours of work don’t matter, quality of work does. We need a kinder, gentler world more than ever before.”
Read more: ‘Number of hours of work don’t matter, quality of work does,’ says Bajaj Auto MD
The backlash against Subrahmanyan’s comments on social media was swift, with Reddit users comparing him to Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and suggesting that such comments would not have been made to employees in global markets.