An Indian techie has slammed Indian startups over six-day workweeks, alleging that companies exploit employees' desperation for jobs to impose poor pay and terrible work-life balance. In a post on Reddit, the techie said employees often struggle to leave the office on time and are left with just one day a week for themselves.
“You spend six days at the office, rarely get to leave on time because there's always ‘one small thing' to finish, and are left with just one day for yourself. It's exhausting,” he wrote.
The techie noted that companies know they can easily find replacements even if employees resign, as people are becoming increasingly desperate for jobs. He clarified that he was referring to startups, not multinational corporations (MNCs).
“They are exploiting that desperation and turning the job market into a race to the bottom, where workers are expected to accept poor pay and terrible work-life balance just to stay employed,” he added.
The techie said better pay and work-life balance are among the main reasons why so many people want to move abroad.
“They keep asking why we don't build our own apps and products. But even when we genuinely love building things, the system exhausts us to the point where we lose the energy to code anything outside work. You can't expect people to build the next big thing when they barely have the time or energy to live,” he concluded.
The techie's post sparked considerable reactions on social media, with many agreeing with his views, while others suggested that six-day workweeks are more common at startups than at MNCs.
“I'm an architect. When I was interning at a firm, I asked for time off, and my boss at the time told me that there are 1,000 people more qualified than me who can do better work and finish the work faster. So if you don't want to work on Saturday, they will just fire you and hire someone who will,” a user commented.
“Never heard about any MNC that follows this. I have worked in startups, so they often work on Saturdays. But this is definitely not a norm. At least not in Bangalore,” a second user commented.
“I think only Indian startups have a six-day workweek in India. I haven't heard of any decent MNC having something like that,” a third user wrote.
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