SN Subrahmanyan, Chairman and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has expressed concerns over the declining migration of construction labourers in India. Speaking at CII’s Mystic South Global Linkages Summit 2025 in Chennai on Tuesday, he noted that many workers are unwilling to work or relocate for jobs due to the availability of welfare schemes and a preference for comfort.
Subrahmanyan, who caused a furore with his comments on work-life balance, said that high attrition among white-collar workers does not bother him as much as the availability of labourers.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is an Indian multinational conglomerate that operates in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, and financial services. It is one of India's largest infrastructure and construction companies, known for executing large-scale projects in sectors such as airports, roads, bridges, power plants etc.
L&T chairman on Indian labourers
“As an organisation, we employ about 2.5 lakh staff and 4 lakh labourers at any given point of time. While attrition among staff does bother me, I am more worried about the availability of labourers today,” Subrahmanyan said, according to Business Today.
“Labour is not willing to move for opportunities... Maybe their local economy is doing well, maybe it is due to the various government schemes & DBTs (direct benefit transfers) available to them, but they are not willing to move,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Labour is not willing to move for opportunities... Maybe their local economy is doing well, maybe it is due to the various government schemes & DBTs (direct benefit transfers) available to them, but they are not willing to move,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Subrahmanyan added that L&T has a dedicated HR team for labour mobilisation, recruitment and deployment. But despite this, there are growing challenges in hiring construction workers.
On white collar workers
He also noted that a reluctance to migrate is no longer limited to blue collar workers. He has noted a similar mindset in white collar professionals too.
“When I joined L&T as a graduate engineer, my boss said if you are from Chennai, you go to Delhi and work. But today, if I ask a person from Chennai to work out of Delhi, he says bye. It’s a different world of work today, and we have to see how to make HR policies flexible,” said Subrahmanyan.
The Larsen & Toubro chairman had sparked a massive debate on work-life balance last month when he said that he wants his employees to work on Sundays too.
“I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays,” Subrahmanyan told staff.
“What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife?” the chairman of Larsen & Toubro asked. “Come on, get to the office and start working.”
(Also read: ‘How long can you stare at your wife?’: L&T chairman says he wants employees to work on Sunday too)