Picture this, you get a job in your dream company. And now you are swamped with lots of work and deadlines one after the other.
You are overloaded with your work in such a manner that it has been weeks or months and you are surviving on little to no sleep. At the same time, you cannot leave your job because the phase of being unemployed will take a toll on you.
Exactly that is how the nation is trapped in a toxic work culture. Companies are not hiring new employees and burdening the limited number of employees with unlimited work. Due to this, unemployment is rising and employee productivity is decreasing.
Unemployment often forces individuals to stay in jobs they dislike because the fear of financial instability outweighs their dissatisfaction. With limited job opportunities and rising competition, many employees feel trapped, enduring toxic work environments or poor management to avoid the risk of being unemployed.
The uncertainty of securing another job, especially in a volatile economy, makes quitting a nonviable option for most, even at the cost of their mental health and personal well-being. This dependency perpetuates a cycle where individuals prioritize survival over job satisfaction.
Across the nation, toxic work culture silently takes over, leaving people feeling stuck and It’s time exhausted. to consider this also as a serious issue on the mental health of an individual and find a way out.
Let’s understand the statistical data of individuals surviving in such an environment.
The McKinsey Health Institute surveyed in April 2022. They interviewed 15000 employees and 1000 HR managers and the result was that 40% of Indian employees are burned out, distressed, anxious, and depressed due to their work life. The reason behind such stressful symptoms is 90% toxic work culture.
60% of Indians want to resign from their work, but being unemployed prohibits them to so and living in such a toxic environment.
The statistics show that a toxic work culture due to being overburdened with work is a global concern.
Wake-up call!!
The heartbreaking news of 26-year-old chattered accountant Anna Sebastian Perayil who died tragically due to overwork and overstress has shaken the internet.
This is not an isolated case; millions of corporate employees are going through the same battle. Anna’s story should be a wake-up call of how a toxic work environment can take a mental, physical, and emotional toll on an individual.
Case study:
Anna Sebastian Perayil was a 26-year-old chartered accountant who lost her life to a heart attack on July 20, 2024, while employed at Ernst & Young (EY) in Pune. Her mother Anita Augustine wrote an email to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani, claiming that the company was responsible for her daughter’s death.
It was also stated that Anna was not getting enough sleep, she used to work for 18 hours and was surviving at 4 to 5 hours of sleep, working on weekends was normal for her. She had lived with such an overworked burden for the past 4 months in a loop.
Of course, the medical reports state that she died due to the pressure on her heart but nobody noticed the mental pressure she was going through from the past 4 months. Anna’s story has made 1000s of employees vocal to speak about the mental and physical toll that they are going through.
Contrary to this EY India chairman Rajiv Memani’s response to Anna’s death was that there are lakhs of employees working in EY India, Anna was also allotted the same amount of work as the other employees and he didn’t believe that overwork was the cause of her death.
Such a response reflects the mindset of our managers, who prioritize working long hours over hiring additional employees and achieving greater productivity in fewer hours. It highlights the need for a new manager who truly understands the concept of work-life balance. The reality is that people don’t quit companies; they quit bad managers.
Where Is the work-life balance? What exactly is this toxic work culture? Only being overworked is equal to toxicity?
The problem:
No, judging an employee based on their no. of hours spent in the office rather than the quality of work presented by them. Giving promotions to the employees based on favouritism and quantity of their work instead of quality.
Burdening the newcomers with lots of work and expectations from the team leader imposed upon the employees to make the best team. Scheduling meetings at irregular hours without asking the comfort of the employees.
Asking to prioritize their office over their health, family, and personal life. Not giving that comfortable space to an employee where they can share their problem about the burden of the toxic work culture.
All those actions that are costing you mentally, physically, and emotionally in your workplace equate to a toxic work culture.
All the managers and team leaders fail as leaders if they cannot make their workplace a safe place.
No matter how much that food is favourite to you, overeating will always cause you a health problem. Similarly, no matter whether it is your dream work over work will always mental and physical toll on you.
If you cannot make peace with your work life then what’s the point of that work? You should take action against it. An individual works hard to fulfil their parent’s dream, to ace their dream life, house, car, etc. If they are burdened with work even on weekends, when will they give time to their personal life?
Our body demands 7 to 9 hours of sleep to function properly, imagine working for 16 to 18 hours what time will an individual devote to sleeping? Having such a toxic work culture, where physical and mental health is sacrificed is questionable.
Toxicity leads to a situation of stress and threats and if you are in that state for a long time, your body goes into a state of chronic stress, your heart rate can go up, Blood Pressure can go up. It can even affect your sleep; it can affect the way you think. You might become less productive over time.
Experts’ Opinions on Toxic Work Culture
Narayana Murthy, an Indian IT pioneer and business leader who co-founded Infosys, a global software services company said that “India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world… So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, ‘this is my country, I want to work 70 hours a week,’” this statement by N. Murthy have sparked debate both criticism and supports from different business leaders in the industry sector.
Let’s calculate this 70 hours a week working hours. 70 hours a week means that if you don’t work on the weekends then you have to work 14 hours each day of the weekdays, and if you work on the weekends then you have to work 10 hours each day.
After all these working hours and 8 hours of sleep, we are left with 2 to 6 hours for our work.
For the elderly people these 2 to 6 hours for their personal life may be enough but for the people who are in their early 20s, they are in the phase of learning new skills, studying some other degrees besides their jobs, etc. For them, 2 to 6 hours is really challenging to manage.
As Mr. Murthy also stated youngster in his statement working hours should be flexible and manageable for all categories of people.
Our finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman supports the long working hours and says that we should learn a ‘stress management lesson’. Even our universities should start teaching stress management courses. The labour ministry proposed that one should work for 12 hours a day.
Bhavish Aggarwal co-founder of OLA Cabs said in one of his podcasts that he works for 20 hours daily. If he works for 20 hours “daily”, when does he sleep, exercise and spend time with his family?
All the health experts and health reports data say that we should sleep for 7 to 9 hours, to be active the next morning and be productive in our work. Lack of sleep will lead to lots of health issues.
All these people have said that we should adopt a long working hours culture, why nobody is talking about how to be productive in 8 hours?
Working long hours is normal in India, if anybody is more challenging and is very productive in fewer hours then they are rewarded with more work.
That’s today’s toxic work culture!! It is shocking to hear how some prominent personalities support the long working hours at the cost of mental and physical health and nobody talks about how to be productive and have a work-life balance.
Everybody has a head authority upon them, an employee has a team leader, a team leader has a manager, the manager has a boss and the boss has the pressure of the founder of the company.
And if our founders and co-founders support long working hours then we can understand the hierarchy of a long working hour toxic work culture.
Are we secretly proud of stress? Today stress is considered a badge of honour because it is said that all successful people live stressful lives.
Employees are being judged on the no. of hours instead of the quality of work which they provide.
It’s high time, we need to raise our voices against such a toxic work culture.
Even in an independent country, many employees face exploitative work conditions that strip them of their freedom and well-being.
Solution:
We should not be proud of living a stressful life instead we should understand and demand a work-life balance. We should learn how to ace productivity in fewer hours, if there are zero useless meetings, fewer commutes, and no social media distractions we can be productive even working for 8 hours daily.
This toxic work culture has become the hierarchy, as if working long hours has become our tradition and every generation has to follow it.
We as the next generation need to replace this long working hour toxic work culture with a work-life balance.
Here are a few little steps that one can take before entering into a corporate world.
Before joining any company make sure to know the history of the workplace of that particular company. Learn to say “NO” wherever you are being harassed at your workplace. Always set your boundaries, with your personal and professional life and devote equal preference to both of the parts of your life.
You should add these few things to your schedule to increase your productivity- 8 hours of sleep, exercise, eating healthy food, and some time for your hobbies and your people.
Our next goal should be not to make a toxic work culture but a friendly workplace.
Luxembourg is a European country where people are prohibited from working on Sundays. Europe’s per week working hour including the overtime is 48 hours.
People in Australia have the option that they can completely ignore the phone calls from their office when they are on their holidays or not working.
Luxembourg, Norway, Germany, Finland, etc. are the countries with average working hours of 27 or 30 hours which means 6 hours something working on their weekdays daily, and that’s the reason why these countries top the happiness index reports also.
If countries with fewer working hours are developed and living happy life exists, then why normalize the concept of long working hours?
A toxic work culture is harming both employees and the nation’s progress. It’s time to stop glorifying overwork and prioritize work-life balance. Organizations must value employees’ well-being, focus on quality over quantity, and create supportive environments.
A healthy, happy workforce is key to true success and long-term growth. Let’s work together to make workplaces empowering, not exhausting.
Authored by Krithika Gupta, a 2nd year Law student at Calcutta University.
Thank you for taking the time to read this! Please share this article if you enjoyed it. Also, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest to get more interesting articles.