“A few days ago, my colleague died from a heart attack. He was just 24 years old”, grieves Sonal. In tears, in an extreme state of shock, she continues, “Very supportive, very talkative, he was. I feel bad that he could not tell us what he was going through. He hustled day and night. I miss him!”
Her other colleagues beside her; in an utter state of silence; had a lot to speak but they could not. I sensed through their vibes.
Maybe the culture of silence at their workplace has programmed them to control their expression, or maybe they feel helpless to speak out, in this melancholy? The corporate work culture is a milder version of Auschwitz, in today’s modern epoch.
I know the comparison is incoherently gross, by nature, but the work culture in the corporate offices often resonates with the qualities and tendencies of Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp in Poland developed by the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler to exterminate the Jews.
The corporate work culture is auschwitzed with a lot of disciplinary rules pertaining to leaves (casual, sick, maternity, or compassionate); a hustling environment…where mental health or cognitive wellbeing of the workers is not given primary importance; underpaid job normalizing appropriation of the labor; toxic politics; sexist representation in the hierarchy; casteist jokes knavishly remarked for the blue-collar workers, etc.
“As basic as empathy is to be asked for,” says Syeda, a female HR and accountant, at a renowned MNC firm. She further expresses, in a disappointing tone, “I work for 50–55 hours a week, except traveling, yet I don’t feel alive and awake!”
Reckoning with the title of this blog, she assents to the fact that we’re auschwitzed (dead) inside.
Recently, a billionaire and co-founder of Infosys, Mr Narayan Murthy, was in the news for stating that Indians need to work 70 hours a week to transcend the economic power of China. Of course, his idea was not welcomed in the social space and was met with memes and condemnation. On the condition of anonymity, a software engineer at Infosys, tells me, “His logic is so bizarre. He has lost it, at this age. When African women work so hard than us, why they’re not rich by now?”
As reported in the Times of India, as per the survey by TeamLease Digital for the Indian IT industry, 58% of the workforce possess a poor work-life balance, which is higher than the global average of 40%.
Mr. Murthy’s comment has, withal, raised a lot of discussions and reflections in the sphere of work-life balance of employers and employees. Reacting to this, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, a leading broking and financial services firm in India, has introduced a unique ‘Switch-Off’ from Work Policy. The policy allows employees to disconnect from work and emails outside of their fixed shift timing, promoting a healthy work-life balance.
The World Health Organisation warned in 2021 that working 55 or more hours a week can lead to a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease. Taking a cue from this, a small IT company Softgrid Computers, in the city of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, has come up with an unusual way to ensure its employees maintain a healthy work-life balance — by creating software to remind them when their shift is up and it is time to head home.
A report in the CXO, Balancehero India, a digital lending company with an NBFC and PPI license, has announced several new initiatives to prioritize the well-being of its employees. Notably, it has become one of the first companies in the fintech ecosystem to offer an unlimited leave policy to its employees, emphasizing its commitment to creating a safe and healthy work environment.
