Amid ongoing controversy over L&T chairman S N Subrahmanyan‘s 90-hour work remark, Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto, has advised corporate leaders to walk the talk.
‘Let 90 hours start from the top,” said Rajiv Bajaj in an interview with CNBC-TV18.
L&T chairman S N Subrahmanyan, in an undated video circulating on social media, said, “How long can you stare at your wife?”
“If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays. What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Come on, get to the office and start working.”
Several industrialists, politicians and celebrities have reacted to the L&T chairman’s remark.
Speaking on the issue, Rajiv Bajaj said that quality of work matters, not hours.
“Number of hours of work doesn’t matter, quality of work does. We need a kinder, gentler world more than ever before,” said Bajaj.
Stating that the bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle, Bajaj urged leaders to rethink their strategies, improve decision-making, and empower employees to achieve better outcomes.
Similarly, RPG Group Chairman Harsh Goenka said that work-life balance isn’t optional, it’s essential.
“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,” said Goenak in a post on X.
Meanwhile, L&T issued a clarification saying the chairman’s remarks were in the context of extraordinary efforts required for achieving extraordinary outcomes for the nation.
“We believe this is India’s decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realise our shared vision of becoming a developed nation. The chairman’s remarks reflect this larger ambition, emphasising that extraordinary effort,” L&T spokesperson said in a brief statement.
#Rajiv #Bajaj #counters #Chairmans #controversial #90hour #work #week #remark #start #top
