Column | Work on Sundays

L&T chairman Subrahmanyan's controversial statement on working Sundays sparks debate on work-life balance and productivity.

Even the song tells us ‘Never on a Sunday’. Oh you you can kiss me on a Monday... a Tuesday... a Wednesday... a Thursday, a Friday and Saturday is best... But never, never on a Sunday, a Sunday, a Sunday, ‘cause that’s my day of rest...

Well, not if Larsen & Toubro chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan could have his way. Unlike Narayana Murthy, Subrahmanyan was not a household name. But now thanks to an undated video that’s gone viral, he has his 15 minutes of fame. Or at least one Sunday’s worth.

In what appeared to be an internal meeting, Subrahmanyan is seen regretting he cannot make his employees work on Sundays, too. “If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays also.” His logic? “How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Get to the office and start working.”

Subrahmanyan has been roundly roasted for his cavalier disregard for work-life balance. It also seems he lives in a world where the men work and the wife stays at home, waiting for her man. Even when said man is home, his only job seems to be to stare at his wife because, god forbid, he should help out with the housework. One of the stinging ripostes to his statement was a meme that quipped ‘Someone needs to tell the L&T head that if you work 90 hours & don’t stare at your wife, someone else will’. 

Also, the poor rich man does not understand that spouses staring at each other is so 1990s anyway. In 2025, they will spend their Sundays staring at individual screens anyway, just on their smartphones rather than the office laptop. Nothing says married life as much as a couple, sitting quietly next to each other, at home or in a cafe, staring into their phones.

Subrahmanyan joins the list of uber wealthy tone-deaf uncles telling everyone to work harder so they can become wealthier. As it is we live in a world where thanks to smartphones we are never really out of office. Murthy had already urged younger employees to work 70-hour weeks. Subrahmanyan has just moved the needle up a little bit to 90. Surely, someone else will come along and round it off to 100 soon.

This is not to say the larger message about enhancing productivity is misplaced. Except, Subrahmanyan and Murthy seem stuck in a world where productivity seems to be still measured in the number of hours at the office rather than efficiency. You must be seen working, or rather you must be seen at work.