A woman has highlighted how discriminatory workplace policies can put Indian employees at a disadvantage in global companies. In a post shared on Reddit, the woman said she broke down into angry tears during a meeting with her manager after being told she was expected to work from office during Diwali.
The woman explained that she works for an American MNC in a hybrid setup, where she is expected to work from office for a certain number of days, and can work from home the rest of the time.
Discriminatory leave policies
She highlighted how American and European colleagues can take long vacations during spring break, Thanksgiving or Christmas. Indians, on the other hand, are expected to work during their festivals.
“I understand at the end of the day we’re just cheap labor for them, but god forbid I believe we’d have some policies that treat us like human,” the angry employee wrote on Reddit.
Working on Diwali from office
The woman said she and her colleagues are all working on Diwali. While she understood that working on Diwali is unavoidable, the woman explained that she had been saving her “WFH” days so she could work from her hometown.
“I was expecting to fly home and work from my hometown that week. Until I was told I can’t go because someone needs to be in office,” she wrote.
She pointed out how unfair it was that she and her colleagues were working on Diwali – when ideally they should have been allowed time off – and instead of allowing employees to at least work from home, the company expected them to show up in office.
“We’ve saved leaves and WFHs all year for this,” she said.
An angry argument
The woman said she got into a tearful argument with her manager when she was told to work from office during Diwali – which will fall on October 20 this year.
“I had a crying sobbing angry argument with my senior manager and asserted I HAD TO GO HOME. It’s the ONE time I get to
“One colleague who’s from my city decided to cancel their leaves to come into the office since they’ll suffer the least damage. So technically this wasn’t resolved, someone just sacrificed,” she said.
Reddit reacts
The post, shared on the ‘Indian Workplace’ subreddit, sparked a wave of reactions. Several people relayed their own experiences of similar discrimination in global firms.
“I am Indian working in Germany. Our project has a small team in Pune, and the managers always keep proudly proclaiming in the meetings that his team is so dedicated that they can work on weekend and holidays as well,” wrote one Reddit user.
However, several others said that they work with European and American teams that are typically more lenient and understanding than Indian managers.