His comments sparked a backlash online, with many pointing out the difference between his salary and the median salary of L&T employees. In FY24, he took home Rs 51 crore, which included a base salary of Rs 3.6 crore, Rs 1.67 crore as prerequisites and Rs 35.28 crore as commission.

The financial report also revealed that the average salary for the company’s workers, excluding employees other than Board of Directors and Key Managerial Personnel was Rs 9,77,099. This means that the salary of the CEO of the engineering major bagged a salary that was over 500 times more than an ordinary employee at the firm.

Video sparks backlash

In an undated video circulating online from an internal meeting, Subrahmanyan is seen promoting Sunday working. The footage, which has drawn widespread criticism on social media, shows him responding to a question about mandatory Saturday work at L&T. “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays, to be honest. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be happier, because I work on Sundays also,” he said.

“What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Get to the office and start working,” he added.

Discover the stories of your interest

Industry divided The work-life balance debate has been particularly contentious over the past year after Infosys cofounder Narayana Murthy endorsed a 70-hour work week.

Several prominent business leaders, including Bhavish Aggarwal and Rishad Premji, have since weighed in on what constitutes a healthy balance between professional and personal life.

Premji said work-life balance was “incredibly important” and that it remains a “controversial subject”. Yet he believes that the hybrid working model by corporates helps its workforce. “I learned this very early on in my early days before Covid, which is work life is something that you have to define for yourself, organizations are never going to work at it for you. So you have to define what it means and draw boundaries,” he said.

Key points:

• L&T chairman advocated for working all seven days of the week in an internal meeting video that has sparked controversy on social media
• His comments follow last year’s debate triggered by Infosys cofounder Narayana Murthy’s endorsement of a 70-hour work week
• The remarks have drawn criticism for their dismissive tone towards home life and family time

Contrasting views:

• Anupam Mittal, entrepreneur and Shark Tank judge, dismissed work-life balance as a “big lie” being sold to younger workers
• Namita Thapar, executive director of Emcure Pharma, strongly opposed this view
• Wakefit founder Chaitanya Ramalingegowda and Upgrad’s Mayank Kumar defended long hours, citing entrepreneurial drive

Public discourse has frequently questioned why lower-paid employees should be expected to match the working hours of chief executives.

His comments sparked a backlash online, with many pointing out the difference between his salary and the median salary of L&T employees. In FY24, he took home Rs 51 crore, which included a base salary of Rs 3.6 crore, Rs 1.67 crore as prerequisites and Rs 35.28 crore as commission.

The financial report also revealed that the average salary for the company’s workers, excluding employees other than Board of Directors and Key Managerial Personnel was Rs 9,77,099. This means that the salary of the CEO of the engineering major bagged a salary that was over 500 times more than an ordinary employee at the firm.

Video sparks backlash

In an undated video circulating online from an internal meeting, Subrahmanyan is seen promoting Sunday working. The footage, which has drawn widespread criticism on social media, shows him responding to a question about mandatory Saturday work at L&T. “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays, to be honest. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be happier, because I work on Sundays also,” he said.

“What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Get to the office and start working,” he added.

Discover the stories of your interest

Industry divided The work-life balance debate has been particularly contentious over the past year after Infosys cofounder Narayana Murthy endorsed a 70-hour work week.

Several prominent business leaders, including Bhavish Aggarwal and Rishad Premji, have since weighed in on what constitutes a healthy balance between professional and personal life.

Premji said work-life balance was “incredibly important” and that it remains a “controversial subject”. Yet he believes that the hybrid working model by corporates helps its workforce. “I learned this very early on in my early days before Covid, which is work life is something that you have to define for yourself, organizations are never going to work at it for you. So you have to define what it means and draw boundaries,” he said.

Key points:

• L&T chairman advocated for working all seven days of the week in an internal meeting video that has sparked controversy on social media
• His comments follow last year’s debate triggered by Infosys cofounder Narayana Murthy’s endorsement of a 70-hour work week
• The remarks have drawn criticism for their dismissive tone towards home life and family time

Contrasting views:

• Anupam Mittal, entrepreneur and Shark Tank judge, dismissed work-life balance as a “big lie” being sold to younger workers
• Namita Thapar, executive director of Emcure Pharma, strongly opposed this view
• Wakefit founder Chaitanya Ramalingegowda and Upgrad’s Mayank Kumar defended long hours, citing entrepreneurial drive

Public discourse has frequently questioned why lower-paid employees should be expected to match the working hours of chief executives.