Amid the debate over the 90-hour workweek, a former employee of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has come to the defense of the construction company’s chairman SN Subrahmanyan. Subrahmanyan continues to be controversy’s favorite child since his remarks about employees working 90-hour weeks went viral for all the wrong reasons.
The former L&T employee, identified as Amey Kulkarni, said in an article on X that the president’s remarks were in sync with the construction company’s demands. He also narrated his interactions with Subrahmanyan during his long stint with L&T from 2015 to 2017.
“I have been working with Larsen & Toubro for the past two years. I have also interacted with Mr. SN Subrahmanyan a few times then in 2015. Working on Saturdays has always been irritating and taxing for me too. But his comment about the working week of 90 hours is in perfect sync with what his business needs,” he said in his post.
He also said that L&T is a hierarchical organization like the Army, where knowledge, creativity and intelligence may not be given as much importance as work ethics and discipline.
Needless to say, the L&T employee received immense backlash from netizens. Social media users suggested that if L&T indeed had this much work going on, then they should hire and train more people.
“If the demand for work is so high, how about hiring more employees? Then delegate the work in shifts. But how would that work if labor costs increased and Mr. Subra failed to improve his results, actions would do it” “He will not rise, he will not get his meager salary of 50 crores, etc. Way to fool people lol (sic),” wrote. a user.
“If your boss wants to finish the metro project in 5 years instead of 10, he should hire more people instead of asking employees already there to work overtime. This would help reduce unemployment,” said another user.
“L&T needs to hire more people, train them and ensure that they all work as per the prescribed law. You cannot expect to work 90 hours to complete your projects. Hiring more also increases employment” , said a third user.
“What kind of justification is this? If you want people to work nights to complete the project half-time, you hire two shifts to work at night and other tasks during the day. If you have the same people working , this will not cause problems in the project, but they will not be able to work efficiently. This may be a problem with the operation of L&T. They have a lot of orders, but the execution is often. catastrophic, leading to increased costs for the government is thinking in national interest, companies like L&T should rethink its approach,” another user commented.
The L&T chairman’s remarks drew sharp criticism from actor Deepika Padukone, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra and RPG Enterprises boss Harsh Goenka. While Padukone called the suggestion “shocking”, Mahindra said it is the quality of work that is important rather than the number of hours worked.
Goenka, for his part, said working such long and grueling hours is a “recipe for burnout.”
