Dear L&T, This is a Recipe for Attrition

In June last year, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) made headlines for grappling with an acute manpower shortage across its businesses. Chairman SN Subrahmanyan, popularly known as SNS, said that the company needed around 45,000 engineers and techies. An attrition rate of 10% was said to be a contributing factor. 

L&T has made headlines once again, and this time, SNS broke the internet with his viral video. In it, he was seen asking employees to work 90 hours a week, including Sundays—a move that could only compound the company’s attrition and staff shortage issues.

During an employee interaction, Subrahmanyan said he would be happier if he could make them work on Sundays as well. “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you keep looking at your wife? Come on, get to the office and start working,” he added. 

Drawing comparisons with China’s intensive work culture, he said, “If you want to be on top of the world, you have to work 90 hours a week.”

Facing Brickbats

Netizens have reacted sharply to his extreme work expectations, erupting in a flurry of memes, jokes and posts online.

A Reddit user commented, “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 added: “L&T came to my college for placements, offering a CTC of 6 LPA, and they expect us to work 90 hours a week for that? This really highlights the sad state of labour laws in India and the mindset of some Indian chairmen and CEOs. It's honestly ridiculous.”

A former L&T employee, Karthik Madhavapeddi, deputy editor at IndiaSpend, had this to say: “I just saw a news report in which L&T chief SN Subrahmanyan (SNS to employees) is quoted saying he wants employees to work 90 hours a week.”

He added that having worked at L&T Construction from 2010 to 2013, “I can say this reflects the typical mindset of someone with a background in construction. On-site, we had 6.5-day workweeks, with hours stretching from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm Monday through Saturday, and up to 1 pm on Sundays. The only exceptions were projects where the client's operations didn’t permit such extended hours.”

Further, he said that labourers and workmen were compensated with overtime pay for the extra three hours. Employees, however, were not.

“When I attended an internal interview for the management trainee programme at the corporate office in Mumbai, the interviewers didn’t seem to grasp why such long hours were necessary on-site,” Madhavapeddi added.

He said that SNS may have brought the same “construction culture” into the corporate.

Narayan Murthy in the Mix

Last year, Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy kicked up a storm with his “70-hour a week” remark. Commenting on development and nation-building, Murthy said, “India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world… my request is that our youngsters must say, ‘This is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week’.”

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone also took to social media, connecting SNS’s remarks to mental health.

In a LinkedIn post, Sanjay Sehgal, chairman & CEO at MSys Technologies, explained that Indian workers, on average, worked significantly longer hours than their global counterparts. 

According to the International Labour Organisation, the average Indian worker, aged around 15, clocks in 47.7 hours per week. This is higher than countries like the US (36.4), the UK (35.9), Germany (34.4), and even Asian countries like China (46.1), Singapore (42.6), and Japan (36.6).

He further claimed that gig industry workers, such as those working for UrbanCompany, Swiggy, Zomato, Ola, and Uber, put in 11-12 hours a day, often totalling over 70 hours a week. This includes labourers, electricians, and plumbers, who spend long hours but often lack growth opportunities or fair pay. 

Young workers, aged 16 to 25, are increasingly involved in gig work like driving taxis, delivering food, or renting bikes, which provide limited benefits or career progression.

Additionally, employees in IT and corporate sectors often face expectations of being available round-the-clock for calls and emails to ease collaboration with global teams. “But now, despite knowing the effects of long working hours, pushing employees to work for 70 hours a week sounds unjust and brutal,” said Sehgal.

L&T, however, rushed in to defend its chairman. A company spokesperson said, “Nation-building lies at the heart of our mission. For over eight decades, we have been shaping India’s infrastructure, industries, and technological capabilities. We believe this is India’s decade – a period calling for collective commitment and effort to drive growth and realise our shared vision of becoming a developed nation.”