“I’m sorry I can’t make you work on Sunday. If I can get you to work on Sunday, I will be more than happy because I work on Sunday also. What do you do sitting at home? How long can you keep staring at your wife? How long can a wife stare at your husband? Reach office and start working” – this is what Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman SN Subramanian told employees at an internal meeting, a clip of which has gone viral on social media.
Although an L&T employee confirmed that the chairman made the comment in a light-hearted tone, the company in an exclusive statement to CNBC-TV18 defended the comment on the basis of its vision and commitment towards nation-building.
An L&T spokesperson said, “We believe this is India’s decade, which demands collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realize our shared vision of becoming a developed nation. The Chairman’s comments reflect this great ambition, emphasizing that extraordinary results require extraordinary effort. ,
While L&T Chairman SN Subramanian, who has previously become a subject of discussion like Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, said that he also works on Sundays, it may be noted that his compensation and the compensation of the firm’s employees. There is a lot of difference between.
In FY24, the chairman took home a remuneration of ₹51.05 crore, which included ₹3.60 crore salary, ₹1.6 crore perquisites, ₹10.50 crore as retirement benefits and ₹32.28 crore commission, according to the company’s annual report for 2023-24. It shows. , He was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director with effect from October 1, 2023.
On the other hand, the average remuneration of the company’s employees during the financial year was ₹9.55 lakh. The average remuneration of employees increased by 1.32% in the financial year. As of March 31, 2024, 59,018 permanent employees were employed.
SN Subramanian’s compensation increased by 43% in FY2024 compared to the previous year, taking the ratio of remuneration to the average remuneration of the company’s employees to 534.57.
In the annual report, L&T noted, “The average percentage increase in salaries of employees other than managerial personnel for FY 2023-24 was 1.74%, while managerial remuneration has increased by 20.38%. The increase in managerial remuneration is mainly due to higher profit and increase in commission rates.
Amid the debate when the Infosys co-founder advocated a 70-hour work week for youth, Namita Thapar, executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, highlighted that the situation is quite different for founders and regular employees.
“I think for the founders and high stakers who make a lot of money – go for it. Always work 24 hours a day! But I think for the common man and woman… (there needs to be) a certain number of hours that they should work, and certainly when there are deliverables… people work long hours, But it’s not on a non-stop, standard number basis.”
Many industrialists including Harsh Goenka have ignored the statement of L&T Chairman. Goenka sarcastically said that ‘holiday’ should be made a ‘mythological concept’.
Actress Deepika Padukone, a long-time mental health advocate, also criticized Subramanian’s comments. Sharing them on her Instagram Stories, she wrote, “It is shocking to see people in such senior positions making such statements.” He added the hashtag #MentalHealthMatters to his post.
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