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Adar Poonawalla’s latest post on X (formerly Twitter) comes days after Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subrahmanyan remarked that people should work for 90 hours a week.
Adar Poonawalla agreed with Anand Mahindra, and said that his wife (Natasha Poonawalla) loves staring at him on Sundays.
Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India, has agreed with Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra over the importance of “work life balance”. Poonawalla said, “Even my wife loves staring at me on Sundays”.
His latest post on X (formerly Twitter) comes days after Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subrahmanyan remarked that people should work for 90 hours a week, and suggested employees should even give up Sundays. Several industrialists, Bollywood stars and politicians reacted to his statement.
Poonawalla said that he’s in agreement with Mahindra Group Chairman (an active social media user), who had said, “I’m on social media not because I’m lonely. My wife is wonderful, I love staring at her. I’m here because people don’t understand it is an amazing business tool.”
Mahindra’s statement, which came as a response to a question at an event, was seen as a jibe at L&T Chairman. S H Subramanyan, while laying out his idea of how a Sunday could be more profitably used, asked, “How long can you stare at your wife? What do you do sitting at home.”
Earlier, RPG Group Chairman Harsh Goenka had said that work-life balance isn’t optional, its essential.
“90 hours a week? Why not rename Sunday to ‘Sun-duty’ and make ‘day off’ a mythical concept! Working hard and smart is what I believe in, but turning life into a perpetual office shift? That’s a recipe for burnout, not success. Work-life balance isn’t optional, it’s essential,” Goenka wrote on X.
Rajeev Bajajmanaging director of Bajaj Auto, said, “Let 90 hours start from the top. Number of hours of work doesn’t matter, quality of work does. We need a kinder, gentler world more than ever before.”
Anupam Mittalfounder of Shaadi.com, reacted to Subrahmanyan’s “stare at wife” remark. “But sir, if husband and wife don’t look at each other, how will we remain the most populous country in the world,” he said.
Sharing Denmark’s workweek, TMC MP Mahua Moitra urged SN Subrahmanyan to ‘get a life’. “Danish engineers Larsen & Toubro founded L&T in 1938. Today Denmark ranks 3rd globally in work life balance, 9th in GDP/capita & averages 34 hrs worked/wk. Get a life Mr. Chairman,” she posted on X.
Actress Deepika Padukone posted Subrahmanyan’s remark on her story with the caption: “Shocking to see people in such senior positions make such statements. #MentalHealthMatters.”
After a nationwide backlash, L&T made an official statement saying “nation-building is at the core” of its mandate and that “the chairman’s remarks reflect this larger ambition.”
