90 Hour Work Week: Anand Mahindra, Radhika Gupta, Anupam Mittal, Others Take Jab At L&T Boss' Wife Remark

Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Chairman SN Subrahmanyan stirred a social media uproar last week, with his remark that employees should work 90 hours a week, including Sundays. The comments sparked widespread reactions from all corners of society, including industrialists, Bollywood celebrities, and politicians.

From Anand Mahindra to Harsh Goenka, here is how prominent industrialists reacted to Subrahmanyan’s statement.

Mahindra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra, said that the 90-hour work week debate is in the "wrong direction".

"I have huge respect for Narayana Murthy (founder of Infosys) and others. So let me not get this wrong, of course. But I have to say something, I think this debate is in the wrong direction," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

"It's not about 48, 40 hours, it's not about 70 hours, it's not about 90 hours. What output are you doing even if it's 10 hours? You can change the world in 10 hours," Mahindra said.

Talking about the controversial 'stare at wife' remark of Subrahmanyan, the Mahindra Group chairman said, “My wife is wonderful, I love staring at her.”

In a long post on X, Edelweiss Mutual Fund Chief Executive Officer Radhika Gupta said that she had worked for long hours in her career and felt "miserable" 90% of the time.

"I worked 100 hours a week for four consecutive months on my 1st project during my 1st job.18 hours a day, with one day off (and not Sunday—I got Monday off because I had to be at a client site on Sunday)," she said.

"What was it like? 90% of the time, I was miserable. I went to office bathrooms and cried, ate chocolate cake from room service at 2 a.m., and was hospitalised twice. Most importantly, I may have been at work for 100 hours, but I was not productive in those," Gupta added.

RPG Enterprises Group Chairman Harsh Goenka said that work-life balance is essential and not optional.

"90 hours a week? Why not rename Sunday to 'Sun-duty' and make 'day off' a mythical concept! Working hard and smart is what I believe in, but turning life into a perpetual office shift? That’s a recipe for burnout, not success. Work-life balance isn't optional, it's essential," he wrote in a post on X.

Marico Ltd. Chairman Harsh Mariwala said hard work is not about the hours one works for.

"Undeniably, hard work is the backbone of success, but it is not about the hours clocked in. It's about the quality and passion one brings to those hours," he said.

"For our youth to be truly engaged and motivated, we need to ensure they are placed in roles that not only challenge them, but also foster growth and learning," Mariwala said in a post on X.

Shaadi.com founder and Shark Tank judge Anupam Mittal took a light-hearted jab at the L&T chairman’s "stare at wife" comment.

"But sir, if husband and wife don’t look at each other, how will we remain the most populous country in the world," he wrote on X.

Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla agreed with Anand Mahindra’s comments and said that quality work was more important than quantity.

"Yes @anandmahindra, even my wife @NPoonawalla thinks I am wonderful, she loves staring at me on Sundays. Quality of work over quantity always," he said in an X post.

Bajaj Auto Managing Director, Rajiv Bajaj, told the media that a 90-hour work week debate should be started "from the top".

"Number of hours of work doesn't matter, quality of work does. We need a kinder, gentler world more than ever before…The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle," he said, urging leaders to rethink strategies and empower employees. 

SN Subrahmanyan was speaking at an internal meeting when he made the controversial 90-hour work week statement. Drawing a comparison with the work culture in China, the L&T chairman mentioned the country's ability to surpass the US in the global competition was because of its people's readiness to put in 90-hour work weeks, whereas the Americans worked only 50 hours in a week.  

"How long can you stare at your wife," he was heard saying in a purported video addressing employees and asking them to spend more time in the office and less time at home.

"et I am not able to make you work on Sundays, to be honest. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays also," he said.

Earlier Infosys Ltd. Founder, Narayana Murthy, had drawn flak from people online for suggesting that he did not believe in the concept of work-life balance. Murthy encouraged young people to work 70 hours a week for nation-building.