Deepika Padukone is not alone in being hurt by L&T Chairman SN Subramanian’s insensitive statement, which had inspired the Indian workforce to voluntarily comply with the 90-hour work week cap.
Subramanian may not be the only one advocating for employees to be excited to come to work every last day of the week — looking at Infosys’ Narayana Murthy and Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal here — but his opinion Their approach to express is different. Easily the ugliest. In an undated video, the L&T chairman can be seen giving a cocky response during a conversation with an employee when asked to comment on the company’s policy of working on Saturdays; He said, “I regret that I am not able to make you work on Sunday. I would be more happy if I could make you work on Sunday, because I work on Sunday.” If that statement wasn’t enough in itself, he complemented it with an unnecessary dig at employees’ family lives: “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? Come on, move on.” Office and start working”.
Deepika, who has long been an advocate of mental health awareness, immediately criticized the clip as it gained popularity online. He also did not mince his words in the statement released by the company and described this absurd viewpoint as some kind of nationalist viewpoint.
If Subramanian’s opinion, not to mention other corporate giants walking on similar ideological lines, is leaving you, a member of the Indian workforce, feeling disappointed, don’t worry, because not every last founder feels this way. Take Namita Thapar, executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals and of Shark Tank fame, for example. During a conversation with Humans of Bombay last year, which also included Shaadi.com founder and fellow Shark Tank investor Anupam Mittal, Namita went head-to-head with her contemporary as she shared her very realistic take on work-life balance. Presented the viewpoint.
From the very beginning, Namita expressed that the same level of dedication and time investment cannot and should not be expected from founders and employees. While for founders investing almost their entire day into their work will yield hefty rewards at the end of the day, for employees the only thing that will happen is physical ailments and mental health episodes. She said: “This is stupid nonsense. Sorry for my language. I completely disagree. For founders, high stakeholders who make a lot of money, go for it. Always work 24 hours a day, but I think for “The common man and woman are required to work a certain specified number of hours”. Although his statement acknowledged that during certain periods, employees may be expected to over-deliver, this should only be an exception, not the rule. Namita concludes with a clear example, “If my accountant works 20 hours a day, he will not get any benefits like I do. Instead, he will face serious physical and mental health problems”.
What is your opinion on this fiasco?
