Naushad Forbes, co-chairman of Forbes Marshall and former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, weighed in on the ongoing controversy sparked by L&T Chairperson SN Subrahmanyan's comment about working 90 hours a week. He suggested that the remark should not be taken too seriously, as it was likely made without much thought.
Subrahmanyan recently ignited a debate when he told L&T employees that he wished he could make them work 90 hours a week, even suggesting they should work on Sundays. Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy also made a similar pitch in October 2023, proposing that young people should work 70 hours a week.
"Many of these comments - we take them more seriously than they deserve," Forbes said while speaking with Karan Thapar for The Wire. "They are made probably without the greatest of thought. They are made as a relatively casual comment, maybe in a particular context. I wouldn't depend so strongly on what each person says. One person will say 70 hours, someone will say 90 hours. I don't take that seriously."
The former CII President said that he agreed with Mahindra Group Chairperson Anand Mahindra's stand that the number of hours worked is not as crucial as the quality of work. "I agree with what he (Mahindra) said, which is that it's all actually about quality and not quantity. What you want is the full engagement of people's heads. We increasingly work much more with our heads than our hands, and as such it's all about quality."
Forbes elaborated that the quality of thought, decision-making, and ideas is far more important than long working hours. "I'm not only not convinced, I'm pretty sure that if one works 90 hours a week, ideas will probably suffer, quality will probably suffer, and you'll actually end up with less than you would like."
When asked whether we need a two-day weekend, Forbes shared his own company's experience when it transitioned from a 5.5-day workweek to a 5-day week. He stated that work did not suffer in the process.
"As a company, we've had a two-day weekend now for 50 years. When my father instituted the two-day weekend, a lot of people said, 'work will suffer, we'll get that much less done.' We worked a five-and-a-half day week...half day on Saturdays. When we actually went to a five-day week, work didn't suffer. We got just as much done. The company continued to grow at just the same rate. I don't think it takes longer and longer working hours to get more and more done."
Forbes also highlighted the importance of taking time off for personal interests outside of work. "For many people, it's very important to have time off to do the things that they really want to do that may not be work connected."
Not just the L&T boss, business leaders like Murthy, Elon Musk, and Jack Ma have supported longer work week. Commenting on these leaders, Forbes said that while he agrees with Murthy's view on productivity, he disagrees with the emphasis on longer hours.
"Murthy's comment was very focused on productivity. It raised the question of productivity and how we can be individually much more productive as a society. That general point I fully agree with. I don't agree with the number of hours thing. I agree with the productivity thing because productivity is the source of growth and development. That's how we will become a richer and more successful country."
On Monday, L&T's Head of HR, Sonica Muraleedharan, defended Subrahmanyan, saying his comments had been taken out of context. In a LinkedIn post, the HR head said: "It's truly disheartening to see how the words of our MD & Chairman, SN Subrahmanyan (SNS), have been taken out of context, leading to misunderstandings and unnecessary criticism."
Muraleedharan, who was present during the internal address, clarified that Subrahmanyan's remarks were "casual in nature" and never intended as a directive or policy. The backlash started after Subrahmanyan in an official interaction suggested that employees should work 90 hours a week to stay competitive.
His comments included remarks like, “How long can you stare at your wife?” and, “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays also."