An Indian employee working for a UK-based company has made thousands of white collar employees feel bad about their own jobs after revealing that his organisation has declared a holiday till January 6 to celebrate Christmas and New Year.
Vivek Panchal took to the social media platform X earlier this week to share a screenshot of a message he received from a colleague, possibly his manager, informing him that the company was giving its employees 15 days off to celebrate the holidays.
“Hello Vivek, from Monday it’s holidays till Jan 6th, for Christmas and new year,” read the message.
Vivek shared the message on X, calling the 15-day break an advantage of working for a British firm. “Benefits of working in a UK based company,” he wrote.
Take a look at the post below:
Since being shared three days ago, the post has racked up over half a million impressions and started a lively debate on Indian work culture, where such company-sanctioned holidays are virtually unheard of.
Debate on desi work culture
{{/usCountry}}Since being shared three days ago, the post has racked up over half a million impressions and started a lively debate on Indian work culture, where such company-sanctioned holidays are virtually unheard of.
Debate on desi work culture
{{/usCountry}}In the comments section of his post, several professional employees rued their own jobs and desi work culture.
“Not only UK but all the western countries follow this. Only India and some Asian countries follow the client first attitude and work 24x7 and 365 days work strategy,” wrote X user Rajesh Iyer.
“Reality of India, Diwali pe sirf ek din ki chutti (Reality of India, only one day of leave on Diwali),” another said.
One X user called it “Narayana Murthy in a parallel universe,” referring to the Infosys founder who recently reiterated his controversial call for a 70-hour work week.
Several people noted how Indian techies, often working for American or European clients, get the worst of both worlds. “You work for an Indian company, so you don't get US holidays. Your client is from the US, so you don't get Indian holidays either,” a user wrote.
Many also called on Indian companies to give similar holidays for Indian festivals like Diwali.