90-hour workweek debate: ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri says 'employees realising their role important than hours at work'

Sanjiv Puri, the Chairman and Managing Director of ITC Limited, has said that his company wants its employees to feel that they are part of the journey of the company rather than evaluating them based on the hours they put in at work. Commenting on the remarks made by L&T Chairman S.N. Subramanyan about how employees should work 90 hours a week, Puri said it was more important for them to understand their role in the company.

CREDIT: BCCL

'Every employee has their role'

Giving the example of building a castle, Puri said, "If you ask a mason what he is doing, he might say he is laying a brick, another might say he is building a wall but some might say he is building a castle. It is that vision that workers should have," he told PTI.

According to Puri, instead of putting a number to the work hours, "We would rather like people to be part of the journey (of the company) and feel passionately involved and kind of feel the urge amongst themselves to make a difference to the enterprise. That's how we look at it."

CREDIT: BCCL

'Not about how many hours they put in'

He also pointed out that ITC allows employees to work from home two days a week.

"So it's not so much about, you know, really monitoring each individual's number of hours. It's more about enabling individuals, helping them to actualise their potential, and then reviewing what goals people have achieved," he said.

Puri, who has been the Chairman of ITC since May 2019, is the latest top executive of India Inc to distance himself from Subrahmanyan's controversial comments that surfaced last week.

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L&T Chairman kicks up online storm

In the undated video, Subramanyan told employees that he regretted the fact that he was not able to make them work on Sundays and added that they should work 90 hours a week.

CREDIT: BCCL

After his comments drew criticism online, L&T issued a statement claiming that the Chairman's remarks "reflect the larger ambition of nation-building."

However, later the head of L&T's HR department, in a LinkedIn post, argued that Subrahmanyan's comments were casual in nature and were taken out of context.

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