The Clash Of the Titans On the 90 Hours Work-week Entrepreneurs Anand Mahindra to Harsh Mariwala, industry veterans say quality should be weighed over quantity of work.

Is spending aeons at work, the only qualifier of a dedicated or accomplished employee? Industry veterans seem divided.

The debate is no more about work life balance. The row has now moved on from 70 hours work week to 90 hours! While some leaders think staring at husband/wife during weekends is monotonous, others find their spouse lovely!

Recently, in an interaction with employees, Larsen & Toubro's chairman S N Subrahmanyan advocated for a 90-hour work week. His remarks received severe criticism, bringing the debate around work-life balance to the surface again. Earlier, Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, batted for a 70-hour workweek.

"I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. For how long can you stare at your wife or a wife can stare at her husband? Come on, get to the office and start working," Subrahmanyan had said.

In a move to address the controversy surrounding Subrahmanyan's remarks, the company's HR head, Sonica Muraleedharan, has expressed strong disagreement. Muraleedharan took to LinkedIn to clarify the chairman's statement. She said, " It's truly disheartening to see his words misinterpreted."

She added, "Subrahmanyan never implied or mandated 90-hour work weeks." Muraleedharan explained Subrahmanyan as someone who values his employees, "He treats every employee as part of an extended family. He always encourages us to...grow both personally and professionally."

Close to the heels of Subrahmanyan's comments, industry leaders share their opinion. "Focus on the quality of work and not on the quantity, as one can change the world in 10 hours," said Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra. "I want to tell people that I am on X on social media not because I am lonely. My wife is wonderful; I love staring at her. So, I am not here to make friends," he said at the National Youth Festival. Replying to Anand Mahindra's remark, the Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said, "Yes Anand Mahindra, even my wife Natasha Poonawalla thinks I am wonderful, she loves staring at me on Sundays. Quality of work over quantity always."

Weighing in on the importance of quality of work, Bajaj Auto MD, Rajiv Bajaj said in an interview that what matters at the end of the day is the quality of work and not the number of hours logged in. He explained, "Let 90 hours start from the top. Irrespective of who you are and what you do in a company, you are effectively working 12 hours a day if you consider your commute and time on the job. That's about half your day." He compared the inefficiencies in an organisation to a bottle, where the bottleneck always forms at the top.

Marico founder and chairman said that he disagrees with Subrahmanyan's suggestion. He said that he has not worked for such long hours a week throughout his career, barring some exceptions. "On average, I used to work 8-10 hours a day. Quality of work is important instead of making employees sit to clock in a particular number of hours."

Murthy had justified his statement about a 70-hour work-week, he had earlier said, "Young people need to understand that we have to work hard and work towards making India number one."

However, amid this heated debate on working hours coming from the biggest companies in India, the Indian laws stand tall. The labour laws ensure optimum number of work hours for employees. According to the Factories Act, 1948, adult workers shall be required or allowed to work for not more than 48 hours in any single week. The ACT also emphasizes the importance of breaks. After five hours of nonstop work, employees must be given a minimum break of thirty minutes.