Working in the corporate world, many of us have had our fair share of toxic bosses because not everyone is as lucky to get a cool boss like Michael Scott from The Office. I swear, these entitled managers are like dementors, completely sucking our souls out.

Even the original poster (OP) speaks about a guy who had a similar toxic boss who mocked him all because he wanted a work-life balance. Well, the employee didn’t take it sitting down; in fact, he quit the company right on his first workday, while also calling them out in the resignation email!

More info: Reddit

Toxic work culture has been under fire in India recently due to many challenges that corporate employees face

Image credits: adamf1414

The poster shared a similar story about a guy, Shreyas, who was forced to quit his job right on his first day, due to his toxic boss

Image credits: adamf1414

Image credits: nappy / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Even on the first day, Shreyas was expected to work overtime without extra pay and when he spoke about having a life apart from work, he was mocked

Image credits: adamf1414

Image credits: katemangostar / Freepik (not the actual photo)

The boss belittled him for having a personal life and said that “work-life balance” was a fancy term and “Western-developed behavior”

Image credits: adamf1414

Image credits: Mikhail Nilov / Pexels (not the actual photo)

He quit and sent a detailed resignation email to his boss and even said that if what he said wasn’t true, then the boss should make their Slack conversation public as proof

Image credits: adamf1414

He received a decent response, but folks said that it was the boss’s legal team talking as he wouldn’t risk coming under the radar during such a sensitive time in India

Image credits: Old-Ad169

Image credits: Old-Ad169

Many cases are coming up in India as the crippling work pressure in the country is forcing its employees into taking drastic and tragic actions

In today’s story, Reddit user adamf1414 narrated how a similar instance had happened to them as that of an Indian guy, Shreyas, who was pushed into quitting his new job right on the first day. 

Shreyas explained in his resignation letter how the toxic boss belittled him for having a personal life with hobbies apart from work, and how work-life balance was called a “fancy term” as it was a “Western-developed behavior”. Shreyas was also expected to “burn the midnight oil” and work overtime with super tight deadlines without extra pay. 

Unfortunately, all these things are quite common in the Indian corporate world and even research indicates that burnout affects over 62% of Indian employees—three times the global average.

The country has recently been under fire after the emergence of news of an employee who worked for a big company and passed away due to “work stress”. That’s not the only big case that drew heat in the news recently, as another employee from another big company took his own life due to work stress.

The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) has made some shocking revelations that 16,364 Indian professional persons took their own lives in 2022, largely owing to work pressure. This just makes us feel that Shreyas made the right decision when he called it quits right on his first day.

Shreyas also posted the reply that he received from his manager, and as decent as it sounded, folks were pretty sure that it was his legal team talking and ensuring that he didn’t screw things up further. After all, toxic work culture is a hot topic in India right now, and only a fool would blunder things and come under the radar at the moment or lose the face of their company.

Image credits: Pixabay / Pexels (not the actual photo)

To understand more about toxic bosses and inhumane workplaces, Bored Panda interviewed Apoorva Kale, an industrial and organizational psychology practitioner. When we asked her about the psychological traits of managers who create a toxic work environment, she said that the first and foremost would be a lack of empathy. 

“Managers who lack empathy are unable to understand the situation or perceive other’s emotions. Being a manager makes them feel they are in a position of authority and there can never be any unrealistic expectations set forth for the employees, leading to no self-awareness.”

“They are also emotionally unaware or don’t know how to express their emotions, violating professional boundaries at times. All these lead to straining their relationship with the employees or a hostile environment,” she added.

The post caught a lot of traction online and quite a few folks opened up about similar toxic workplace instances and behavior that they had experienced in India. People also spoke about how they were exploited by such big companies, where they were hired for one role but made to do the work of other roles as well. 

Apoorva explained how a toxic work culture will create an environment of resentment and hostility, damaging relationships and leading to low employee morale. Then, she mentioned, such employees with low morale will often hesitate to express their opinions leading to poor communication and causing conflict. 

“This will also keep the employees from reaching their goals and affect their performance/productivity. Eventually, the employee would burn out, suffer from anxiety, depression, and other mental and physical health issues affecting their overall well-being,” she narrated.

When we asked Apoorva about how companies can promote a healthier work culture that balances productivity with employee well-being, she spoke about companies that prioritize supporting employees’ mental and physical health. 

She also spoke of companies providing flexible hours, encouraging taking time off, offering Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), providing ergonomic workplaces, encouraging engaging in physical activities, promoting clear communication, offering feedback and transparency, encouraging employee engagement initiatives, setting realistic goals, and delegating equal workload.

Lastly, she ended the interview with some insightful tips about how employees can effectively identify red flags of toxic leadership during the hiring process or early on:

• Enquire about the expectations and goals one needs to meet in the given timeline
• Ask how the company deals with conflict
• Understand how the organization supports employee success
• Check how they measure employee satisfaction
• Don’t hesitate to ask about the support they provide when an employee is lagging
• Finally, the most important aspect is to thoroughly read all the policies and procedures

After all the brilliant advice from our expert, what would you do in a similar situation? Let us know in the comments!

Folks online were baffled by the toxic boss and quite a few people opened up about similar instances that they had encountered in such companies

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