The blurred line between professional life and personal life is slowly becoming a feature of many Indian companies.
Complaining about a situation that seems to indicate this, a dissatisfied employee recently took to the r/IndianWorkplaces subreddit to post about a problematic condition enforced by their manager: being available at all hours, even on weekends.
The employee claimed that their management had unofficially asked the staff to be available on platforms such as Teams and Outlook even after regular working hours, Economic Times reports.
Although the manager stated they weren't expecting anyone to "work" after hours, they made it obvious that if a message or email arrived, it needed to be responded to as soon as possible, no matter what the time was.
Disappointed by the demand, the employee explained that availability outside of established work hours was not part of their job agreement. Even more upsetting to them was the fact that none of their colleagues appeared worried or willing to question it.
The post soon gained traction among fellow Redditors, many of whom criticised the high expectations. One commentator pointed out that no corporation requires its employees to be available around the clock.
They believe that most texts and emails can wait until the next working day. Deadlines, in their opinion, are frequently arbitrary, and emergencies should be the sole legitimate justification for after-hours contact.
Some Redditors sarcastically remarked that the employee must be working for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), or an organisation that deals with life-or-death situations, as nothing else could justify the need for 24/7 availability.
According to the original poster (OP), their job entailed one weekly call with the worldwide team, followed by team members working independently on their assigned tasks.
Previously, they would submit progress updates weekly, but under this manager, a new regulation mandated daily updates, which the employee criticised as excessive micromanagement.
Their post shed light on a larger issue of unrealistic expectations in corporate settings, where work-life boundaries are increasingly being ignored in the name of productivity.
