Who can
truly argue that life is not a beach?
‘Life is a Beach’
was a phrase invented to denote that it was both good and great to be in a
relaxed, warm frame of mind and body. It was a worthwhile aspiration coined to
counter the other negative phrase that ‘Life was a Bitch’. The latter, never
mind its sexist connotations, was probably brought on by a slave-driving foreman
like the infamous Simon Legree in the Harriet Beecher Stowe classic Uncle Tom’s
Cabin. Legree, of course, whipped Uncle Tom to death with a cat ‘o nine tails
just because he could. And still Uncle Tom did not complain.
The present
top leadership of L&T seems to have stepped right into the proverbial dog
poo that an indulgent pet parent neglected to scoop up. And what is worse, the
previously obscure Chairman and Managing Director of the group, SNS, short for
SN Subrahmanyan from Chennai, trailed his smelly and dirty shoes right into the
board room.
Now the
matter of his pronouncements on the 90 hour work-week and the even more
outrageous one about how long one can stare at one’s wife at home have gone
viral on the social and mainstream media. There are many memes. Fellow
industrialist Anand Mahindra has posted a picture of himself gazing
appreciatively at his own wife in riposte.
L&T, the
hoary Indian engineering company now headed by SNS was established by Henning
Holck-Larsen, a Danish engineer, along with his fellow school mate and engineer
from Copenhagen, Soren Kristian Toubro in 1938. Both the visionary foreigners
saw the potential for an engineering-based company in India even before WWII.
The idea for
L&T was conceived by the duo during a holiday in the hill-station of
Matheran, near then Bombay, and gradually, over their lifetimes, grew into a
diverse conglomerate and one of India’s most successful companies.
L& T is
now also doing good work in defence manufacturing, and was previously helmed
from 2003, by the legendary and down-to-earth AM Naik, even though SNS was
there making his significant contributions to the company from 1984 too.
Naik not
only grew the company manifold, turning it entrepreneurial, but successfully
staved off a takeover attempt from Reliance Industries. But he never thought it
necessary to lecture his coworkers into the necessity of working very long
hours beyond the standard 48 hour 9 to 5 week.
The Tata
Group is often thought of as the leitmotif of Indian Industry, culture,
and ethics. Some will remember the Homi Mody sponsored TV advertisements for
Tata Steel that waxed eloquent on many lifestyle and fun things but ended with
the tag line: We Also Make Steel. Many viewers thought it underscored the sheer
classiness of the Tata Group.
While
comparisons may be thought to be odious, AM Naik, SNS’s boss for many years who
took the company to unprecedented heights of profitability and competence did
not feel the need to hector his workforce. Personally, he too was a workaholic
throughout his career, but that was just how he liked to play it. He did not
make it a public virtue or a formula for others to follow, except if you like,
by his example.
This whole
work-life balance debate has adherents on both sides, but given the number of
young CEOs and other young professionals who are dropping dead now, the medical fraternity that says
job-induced stress is a killer needs to be heard.
This entire
debate was sparked earlier by Narayana Murthy, the now elderly Kannadiga former boss of Infosys, who appears
to have had no life beyond his work, and is extremely proud of it. He asked for
a 70 hour-week that he personally followed all his working life. Earlier, he
said he has never bothered to read a novel. These men are indeed very successful,
very rich, but hardly inspiring. They are more objects of ridicule despite
their stellar careers because they may have missed the point of life and living
entirely.
This obsession
with long hours may also be an Indian thing, because others elsewhere are
trying to both cut down their working weeks and trying to retire early. The
Japanese company man, now largely extinct in his original form, died from
overwork and excessive drinking after hours. They were meant to have lifetime
jobs but began to be sacked in droves during the economic downturns through no
fault of their own. Strict hierarchy and terms of conduct also took their toll.
These same advocates of lengthy working hourse do not hesitate to sack people
whenever the bottom line dictates it. Ditto for not paying increments when
times are not so good.
If Tata paid
all its employees both salary and compensation where applicable when the Taj
Hotel in Mumbai was being restored for two years after the ghastly attacks of
26/11, it showed a cultural nobility unmatched by any other business group in
India. Those employees who lost their lives, were or would be paid their full
salaries and benefits till they would have retired. Their children were or are
being educated at company expense.
SNS and Narayana
Murthy would do well to learn the obligations of a good company before mouthing
off in their bizarre manner like cats who have first swallowed the cream.
Work loyalty,
a sense of duty, and esprit de coeur comes amply from the Armed Forces where people bravely sacrifice their
lives for their country. They don’t have to be hectored by fat cat corporate
honchos whom nobody can respect for their one-way and graceless view of things
like this.
(917
words)
January
13th, 2025
For:
Firstpost/News18.com
Gautam
Mukherjee
