After Infosys’ Narayan Murthy’s 70-hour work week comment, which has paved the discourse on work-life balance over the recent past, it is now the turn of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman & Managing Director SN Subrahmanyan to enter the discussion and debate with an even higher expectation and desire to overwork employees.
Recently, while answering a question on working on Saturdays at an in-house L&T event, the head of one of the largest conglomerates in India, said he regrets not being able to make his employees work on Sunday as well. “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? Come on get to the office and start working,” he asked.
“If I can make you work on Sundays, I’ll be happier. Because I work on Sundays also,” he stated.
In addition, adding to the library of the 70-hour theory, Subrahmanyan added his own 90-hour theory, wherein he would want Indians to work for 90 hours a week, which would amount to 15 hours a day in a 6 week, working.
L&T CMD and work life balance
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This opinion of his has garnered a lot of traction in the past few days. In light of these developments, let’s take a look at who SN Subrahmanyan is.
Sekharipuram Narayanan Subrahmanyan or SN Subrahmanyan is the Chairman & Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro (L&T).
The 64-year-old took over the reins from L&T’s previous boss and current Chairman Emeritus, Anil Manibhai Naik in July 2017.
He is also the Vice Chairman on the Boards of LTIMindtree and L&T Technology Services.
In addition, he also heads the L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited and Director and Chairperson of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd.
Alma mater
Born in Chennai, the capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on March 16, 1960, he received a degree in civil engineering from Kurukshetra Regional Engineering College.
From there, he went to Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, where he achieved his postgraduate degree in Business Management.
Furthermore, he also completed his Executive Management Programme from London Business School.
Achievements
His journey with the conglomerate started in 1984, over 40 years ago, and it took him about 30 years to climb the ladder to the top of the company.
Some of his accolades include being featured on the cover of Fortune magazine’s October 2023 edition as India’s Best CEO.
He is also the winner in the Infrastructure & Engineering category of the Business Today-PwC India’s Best CEOs ranking in March 2022.
He was awarded The Emergent CEO in the CEO Awards in 2019.
The L&T chief has also been featured in the ‘Top 50 Most Influential People’ List by Utilities Middle East.
From the time of his accession to the top in 2017, the shares of the flagship L&T have risen from INR 1,179.25 (USD 13.72) per share in July 2017 to the current INR 3,505.00 (USD 40.78). This marks a 197 per cent jump in the share prices of the marquee entity over the past 7-8 years.
(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and Connected to India)
