E-Paper
'Self-induced toxicity’: Internet slams Indian employees for faking work to impress manager
An Indian man shared that the outdated mindset at workplaces is forcing employees to stay late to appear busy, despite completing their tasks.
An Indian man has called out the "outdated mindset" at Indian workplaces, where employees pretend to work long after they’ve finished their tasks just because their manager hasn’t logged off yet.
According to a Reddit post, the man claimed that his friend works in a mid-sized IT company, where the team usually wraps up by 6.30 PM. But nobody leaves for hours after because their manager typically stays online until 8 PM, and the employees feel the pressure to "look busy" until then.
“People literally just scroll through Instagram, keep half-heartedly typing, or pretend to be busy. No one wants to be seen leaving 'early' while the boss is still around," he said.
The post sparked a wave of reaction from fellow Indian professionals who claimed to have faced similar situations.
“This is self-induced toxicity. Somebody can break the chain. Who knows, maybe the manager will also leave early then,” one commenter wrote.
Another blamed Indian managers for being too egotistic. "I can assure you this won’t change for the next 50 years — unless there’s a drastic drop in population that shifts the power back to employees. Sadly, that seems improbable," he added.
“Yes, this happens in many Indian offices. People stay late just to look like they are working hard, even if their work is done. It’s more about showing the boss you’re still online, not about doing more work. This needs to change," wrote a third user.
