90 hours per week: What's with this foot in the mouth

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When someone says something that sounds politically correct, you may doubt whether they really mean it. But when someone advocates an idea that is so out of tune with the current reality and changing times, there is no doubt they mean what they say.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan was merely reinforcing, in a very crass manner, the company culture that had been assiduously built by his predecessor, A.M. Naik.

It's not right to generalize this extreme version of “work is worship" as the hangover of a previous generation, though values, to some extent, indeed mirror the circumstances of the times. There have been leaders from that generation who were progressive and ahead of the times, and there are some young cocky leaders today who would agree heartily with Subrahmanyan and Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. Some organizations have a culture of long hours, endless hustle, unending deadlines, and a perverted sense of ambition.

One could argue that organizational culture is a matter of a company’s choice if they are not violating a law, and employees could, in turn, choose whether they wish to work for such companies. However, the argument is flawed when this principle is taken to an extreme. It is these extremities that triggered and solidified the labour movements, which eventually resulted in the end of rampant exploitation in the industrial era.