Express view on L&T chairman’s remarks: The CEOs who lack of vision, empathy or ideas

Jan 11, 2025 07:26 IST First published on: Jan 11, 2025 at 07:17 IST

There is a crisis of imagination and no amount of perks, ESOPs or staggering six-figure salaries seem to square up to it. The future of productivity, if industry bros are to be believed, lies not in work-life balance but in work-work sublimation. After Narayana Murthy’s prescription of a 70-hour work week in 2023, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) chairman S N Subrahmanyan has urged employees to put in 90 hours at work every week and to even forgo weekends in the pursuit of professional excellence. In between, corporate leaders of all stripes — from Bhavish Agarwal of OLA to Bombay Shaving Company’s CEO Shantanu Deshpande — have advocated harsher work regimens for a variety of reasons, ranging from character building to nation building. After all, as Subrahmanyan said in the annual company meeting, “How long can you stare at your wife, how long can the wife stare at the husband?” He could well be saying, “Who wouldn’t want to sacrifice their health, relationships, and interests in exchange for more targets?” To a work force struggling with high stress, low income, fewer opportunities and inadequate support systems, the hard bottom line and cold condescension could not be clearer: Turnover above all.

Of course, this hasn’t exactly been a secret from employees at the receiving end of HR’s exhortations to colour-coded festival celebrations, attendance regularisation, impractical targets and support for little else. As it is, employees in Asian countries work an average of nearly 49 hours a week in contrast to 37.9 hours per week in North America and about 37-odd hours in Europe. But when it comes from those at the top of the pyramid, such statements show a shocking lack of consideration for the human cost of such benchmarks. The suggestion that more hours translate to greater productivity and success has no basis in facts. It overlooks employee well-being, both physical and mental, familial demands, and long-term sustainability. A 24/7 work culture presupposes the luxury of a structure of support and care in homes, out of the realm of possibility for a majority on account of income or availability.