It was the middle of the week and I was driving back from my hometown in Nileswaram, a town in north Kerala, to Bengaluru, India’s Information Technology (IT) hub, after spending some quality time with my parents and in-laws. As the yellow sun rays of the setting sun fell on the lush green hills along the route, they emanated gold. I was enjoying this beautiful view without taking my eye off the road when I suddenly got a call from a former colleague.

Arpita Sen, whom we used to call Didi (sister), was on the line. We had worked in the same company for about five years before parted ways following our respective career moves. I had not been in touch with Didi lately and she sounded stressed when she called me and asked if I could edit her resume.

I enquired if everything was alright. Didi replied in the negative, stating that she was under tremendous pressure as the senior management of her company was giving more work than what could be handled in a single day.

I vividly remember the day when Didi decided to quit her job in the company we worked with after her reporting manager remarked that she was useless. Although the manager later expressed regret, explaining that it was said in the heat of the moment, Didi had already decided to quit. Her self-respect mattered more than anything else including her work.  

While I found my professional calling in things close to my heart including advocacy and journalism, Didi switched to another corporate firm, on expected lines. The latest call was yet another déjà vu moment for her, like her peers in the corporate sector.

The traumatic lives behind the tinted glasses

That the grass always looks greener on the other side is a frequently heard adage, and unless explored closely, you would not know what lies in store. Only an insider would be able to tell the truth about what happens inside big brands, how affable or receptive the individuals with fancy designations are, and what the levels of crises and challenges employees face day in and day out at their workplace.

All the exterior glitter, hefty pay packages, glossy careers, nights out and team parties only silhouette the dark shades of the corporate world – one marked by unending stress, indomitable agony, cutthroat competition even among peers and much more than the workforce of corporate India face every day, neither known to the outside world, not could be deciphered easily sans the in-house experience.

Earlier this year, Anna Sebastian Perayil, a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young (EY), allegedly succumbed to work-related stress, with parents pointing out he struggles to get proper sleep or maintain a healthy food regimen. What appalled the nation, and led to further questions on the corporate ‘work culture’ was not just the callous response of the company to the incident but also the fact that none of her co-workers even attended her funeral. It could be speculated that perhaps her colleagues feared backlash from the public, or maybe the management did not care enough nor could the employees have preferred an attendance that could have irked the higher-ups.

Unlike in the West, the Indian corporate workplace scene and bosses are widely perceived to be highly insensitive to the personal needs, plights and well-being of employees, and more inclined towards profit orientation and building their careers at the expense of subordinate staff.

Why laws went silent for India Inc.

In recent years, employees in the IT and ITES sector in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune and other cities have formed trade unions, though largely covering the IT sector, and only among the few in the white collared job sector in corporate India.

Clearly, the Indian corporate workforce is not inclined to organise themselves to fight for better working conditions, non-discriminatory remuneration and growth structures and even fairer labour statutes. A key reason against movements for associations within the corporate world could be the fear of backlash from the management and the absence of a feeling of solidarity among the workforce.

However, a greater catalyst has been how the laws have been transformed in the country in recent years in order to facilitate ‘ease of doing business’ and attract investments. With the proclaimed objectives of establishing minimum wages, social security and other benefits, the Narendra Modi government consolidated a variegated set of more than two dozen long-standing labour laws into four Labour Codes: The Code on Wages 2019, the Industrial Relations Code 2020, the Code on Social Security 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.  

The consolidated codes, in force from June 2022, come with uniform definitions of ‘wages,’ social security benefits for ‘fixed-term employees,’ ‘gig workers,’ ‘platform workers’ and so on, besides articulating health and maternity benefits. These provisions along with other apportions like universalizing provident fund and insurance, a reskilling fund, increase of annual leave from 180 to 240 days, issuance of appointment letters, and annual health check-ups and medical facilities, among others, could, however, only be seen a perfunctory as there are few indications of a strict regime to implement such measures sweepingly across the corporate and industrial sectors.   

More significantly, the codes merely pivot the claimed ‘welfarism’ of the workforce to masquerade the essential objective of easing labour laws to make them ‘business-friendly’. For, at the core of the changes include the permitted increase in essential work hours from 8 to 12 though capped at 48 hours per week with commensurate vacation periods (3 weeks for those who work for 12 hours as opposed to two weeks for those working 9 hours and one week for the 8-hour worker), the flexibility to hire and fire for companies with 300 employees (from earlier 100 threshold), the 60 day notice period for unions to call for a strike and prohibiting any strikes during pendency of tribunal proceedings.

Furthermore, the Labour Codes mainstream the ‘contract’ system by referring to ‘Fixed-Term Employment' as opposed to permanent employment by extending some of the benefits of the latter to the former category but indicating that the era of 'permanent jobs' might be behind us, in the country's new economic scheme of things.

No wonder then that labour unions across the country had rejected the labour codes and demanded their repeal by terming them as ‘pro-corporate’ and infringing on workers' rights.

However, the significant aspect is that none of the core provisions of the labour codes is likely to have any significant bearing on the standards practised in the corporate sector, particularly in the white-collared segment of India Inc. While working hours, weekly caps and commensurate vacations will solely be determined by the policies of individual corporate entities, neither would provisions for contracts or reskilling make any impact when it comes to job stability or growth avenues in this sector.

In fact, but for these instabilities, the corporate sector provides more lucrative social security and medical facilities to its employees beyond what is envisaged by these codes. Furthermore, the question of ‘strikes’ does not apply, in the current circumstances, at least for this vital cog of the Indian economy.

While Perayil’s tragic death caused much hue and cry with the government ordering an inquiry into the working conditions in the technology and consulting sectors, it was evident that no traction is possible in a sector which is given its pride of place by successive governments, to suit India’s investment-destination image, and allowed to function as a law on to themselves. 

With the government backtracking on any concrete ‘corrective’ measures, the onus had fallen on the opposition ranks to rake up the issue. Consequently, Congress members of parliament, K. Sudhakaran, Dean Kuriakose and Sougata Ray, have sought answers from the government regarding the probe and actions taken, if any, to address the concerns of alleged toxic work culture in multinational firms.

In the government’s response, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandlaje, gave a written reply to these questions and pointed out that labour is a subject under the Concurrent List wherein enforcement is shared between state and union governments.

“While in the central sphere, the enforcement is done through the inspecting officers of the Central Industrial Relations Machinery, the compliance in the state sphere is ensured through the State Labour Enforcement Machinery. As per the existing labour laws, working conditions, including working hours, are regulated through the provisions of The Factories Act, 1948 and the Shops and Establishments Act of respective state governments. Major consultancy firms, including multinational companies, are covered under the Shops and Establishments Act, appropriate government for which is the state government,” the reply said.

However, finding the reply to be evasive, K. Sudhakaran remarked that “it starkly underscores the central government’s apparent indifference to a crisis that continues to affect millions of workers trapped in exploitative workplaces.”

Sudhakaran, for his part, submitted a request to move a Private Member’s Bill against what he termed as “modern slavery” to be tabled during the winter session in Parliament. The bill calls for a comprehensive overhaul of antiquated labour laws and the implementation of protections to safeguard the interests of workers from exploitative practices.

“This is not just a policy issue it is a moral imperative to protect millions of workers from injustices and restore humanity to corporate culture. The antiquated laws fail to address the harsh realities of today’s workplaces where excessive work hours, overwhelming mental strain, and exploitative conditions remain unchecked,” Sudhakaran exclaimed.  

Blind pursuit of wealth or an apathetic corporate culture?

Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys, famously stated that employees need to work 70 hours a week to boost India’s economy. According to Murthy, his views got positive feedback from his Western friends, some non-resident Indians and many private individuals in India.

Although Western economies have well-established work hours (8x40 hours) and space for individual lives, Murthy claimed support from his peers more underlines India’s age-old system of social hierarchy, which has been often exploitative, than on the merit of his statement. Murthy also seemed unconcerned about the wealth distribution that is prevalent in ‘feudal’ India – which instinctively also reflects in the country’s corporate culture.

Corporate insiders, from the workforce side, on the other hand, have more sordid tales to share on the work culture in India Inc.

Office politics, favouritism, groups in cahoots, rude leaderships, and scuttling growth opportunities are all standard traits in the Indian corporate workplace, according to Anjali Kumar, an ex-employee of a multinational consulting giant. In some places it is more explicit while in some it is subtle or functions in a layered manner, she adds.

Akshay Khanna, a graphic designer who changed cities in search of better career prospects had another interesting fact to share – the work culture varies from one region to another. He found the work atmosphere better in Southern India. According to him, for example, certain cuss words which would be offensive in South India are commonplace in the North, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR). Besides, Khanna found the work culture in cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kochi, etc. to be better than in the NCR.

Glorification of overwork is rampant in many companies and usually, those are unreported as people fear job loss and the social stigma that follows with unemployment. In the late 1990s, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) enterprise came into India with ‘graveyard shifts’ becoming the norm for adjusting to the needs of working hours in the western hemisphere. The resultant toll on the body and mind is a phenomenon that has been talked about over the years.

“My office cab used to drop me home in the early morning and I slept during the daytime ensuring that the door was closed and windows were also closed with dark curtains. Besides the unearthly sleep pattern, I also had to skip breakfast and lunch more often. This was the case with everyone working in the UK and US process. For those working in the Australian process, it was a tad better with early morning hours being the norm. You cannot sustain a career in such jobs for an entire life; it is fine when you are not married and are in your 20s when energy levels are high,” an analyst in Delhi who started his career in BPOs reminisced to The Polity.

Tarun Saxena, a 42-year-old committed suicide earlier this year allegedly due to work pressure from his seniors. Despite working with the company for nearly a decade, Saxena was told to meet targets at any cost or quit. It is appalling that his seniors failed to acknowledge his genuine concerns. Following a complaint from Saxena’s wife, the police arrested senior managers of the company under Sections 108 (abetment to suicide), 352 (intentional insult), and 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

High expectations, unrealistic deadlines, or heavy workloads, often leading to stress, burnout, and a decline in mental health have been a norm in corporate India.

Another significant aspect in the corporate world is the tenuous gender equations – ranging from discrimination (that affects all genders), sexual exploitation (both as harassment and as leverage) and clear gender imbalances in recruitment and career advancement avenues. Interestingly, while many of the technology and consulting companies have prioritized higher women presence in their workforce, gender equations continue to remain sensitive with vulnerabilities remaining camouflaged by the glitter of the tinted glass.  

Abhishek (name changed), a middle-level executive in the NCR office of a multinational IT firm, explained that like the ‘casting couch’ alleged in the film industry, the corporate world is also known for similar encounters that could not just be exploitative in nature, but also used favourably and consensually with assured professional returns. Such encounters and experiences, largely, remain closeted in the dark underbellies of the corporate sector, he remarked. 

Comprehensive personnel welfare policies, proper grievance mechanisms, and a supportive culture where employees, regardless of gender, feel empowered to report harassment without fear of retaliation are often lagging in many Indian companies.

With a fast-paced economy and the increasing demand for productivity, intense workloads, tight deadlines, and long working hours have become standard industry practice. This pressure, while common across various industries, is particularly profound in sectors like IT, finance, and manufacturing, where high targets and constant competition are commonplace.

Unrealistic deadlines are one of the biggest concerns. For example, in IT companies, employees find themselves racing against time to meet project deadlines, sometimes working 12-14 hours a day, especially during product rollouts or system upgrades. The expectation to deliver high-quality work within short timeframes would result in stress and burnout.

Lack of work-life balance is a natural outcome that extensively affects not just the morale of the workforce but also their social and mental wellbeing – an area which remains hugely understudied. Employees are expected to be available even after office hours, often blurring the lines between personal and professional lives. The ‘always on’ culture is pervasive in sectors like banking and consulting, where employees may be asked to respond to emails and calls during weekends or late at night.

Though companies claim to remunerate sufficiently with hefty pay packages, the effects of lengthy work hours on physical and mental health, besides the social costs, remain completely unaddressed in post-liberalisation corporate India.

Also, hierarchical structures and the pressure to meet managerial expectations can create additional stress. In India’s private sector, the workforce functions in the shadow of a ‘Damocles Sword’ hanging over them with the fear of demotions or lack of promotions if they fail to meet targets or adhere to strict timelines.

Industry leaders often claim best practices and merit as defining corporate culture in the country, as much as in the rest of the world. However, many executives in Bengaluru, Mumbai and NCR who spoke to The Polity over the last few months, shared a common grouse that the ‘assessment’ or ‘evaluation’ frameworks for career advancement or entrenchment in India are loaded with prejudices, shady processes, personal biases and pre-determined notions with merit and talent finding lesser prominence in the scheme of things.

Even the performance improvement structures, which are standard for most corporate companies in order to represent a fairer workplace, have over the years transformed into a transit corridor for those in line for the ‘pink slip’ or those who proclaimed their plan to exit.

A paradigm shift needed in the work culture

The impact of work pressure in offices, whether big or small firms in India, is reflected in the growing number of mental health issues, including anxiety and depression, among employees. To tackle this, companies must prioritize employee well-being by promoting a healthy work-life balance and implementing effective support systems for stress management.

Speaking to The Polity on what should be done to improve work-life balance, Sushmita Singhal, a Human Resource (HR) manager with a multinational firm said that companies should mandatorily have established policies of code of conduct that govern behaviour and conduct at the workplace and any deviation should attract strict disciplinary action. People’s practices should be designed in a way that promotes a culture of fairness, dignity, as well as respect for co-workers. In India only a few companies follow this practice, she noted.

Recent labour data reveals that the workforce in India is one of the most overworked ones compared to countries like China or Japan for instance that are known for their relentless work culture and ranking in terms of goods production.

On average, workers in India put in about 13 hours more work in a week compared to their counterparts in Germany and other European nations. A large chunk of the workforce in India is employed in the informal sector which is largely unregulated and more often than not exploitative. A toxic work culture is mooted by several managers in their pursuit of personal agenda and profits, junior employees are always kept on their toes to get the desired results.

Rohit Arya who worked in an IT firm in NCR said that employees in his company are not allowed to talk or socialize in the workplace, breaks are discouraged and all activities are closely monitored by CCTV cameras. Indian managements, he feels, are also intuitively insensitive to the personal requirements of the workforce and see it as a best practice to deny earned and mandated leaves. “While much of Indian corporate culture claims to mimic the Western world, little do they consider that the industrial West enabled their populace to celebrate their lives, make an economy out of their vacationing and holidaying culture,” he points out.

It is aspects like these that prompt a realistic assessment of the promises of the Labour Codes and its effeteness in the Indian scenario. Will the governments – both at the centre and states – be able to realistically assess or implement a mechanism to monitor provisions for mandatory vacations (for those working 8, 9 and 12 hours respectively), whether reskilling will become an industry standard for those retrenched, whether social security will compulsorily reach all intended beneficiaries, whether issuance of contracts will be uniformly followed and whether it will have proclaimed benefits, and so on.

With retrenchments and layoffs becoming a common feature of the Indian economic story, and sectors like the ‘gig’ economy continuing to remain very unstable for its workforce, the spotlight certainly has to be placed on how effectively the promises of the Labour Codes have been implemented in the country, particularly in the white-collared corporate sector as also the unorganized sector, both of which have very little public scrutiny or governmental oversight.  

On the contrary, executives pointed out to The Polity that the corporate world, from within is heavily policed. Employees, particularly in their middle-age are vulnerable to layoffs and finding new avenues notwithstanding the myth perpetuated about reskilling the retrenched workforce. With no community support, such vulnerable age groups meekly surrender to the diktats of the management – a problem endemic in every sector – IT, manufacturing, media, entertainment, judiciary, corporate, and even start-ups.  

The concept of ‘start-ups,’ on the other hand, continues to be youth-oriented and not yet perpetuated to the middle-aged groups or retirees who are more competent to turn entrepreneurs if provided with financial and enterprise-building support. While the central government places great impetus on the ‘start-up’ economy as a means for employment, it is yet to consider its expansive scope if retried public servants, including bureaucrats who rush to become board members in leading companies, are incentivized to form start-ups and bring forth a cultural revolution in the corporate working spaces.  

Where lies the salvation?

According to various accounts, the word ‘villein’ originally meant villager or a peasant in a feudal system who was never paid their salary. Whenever the villein requests wages for their work, the owners or landlords deny it on some flimsy grounds. Gradually, the term villein (villain) was identified with scoundrels and later gained cult infamy as negative characters in movies. Today, workers are the villains for corporate managements, for demanding salary hikes, and better working conditions or for putting up resistance against exploitative policies.  

Although back then this was the case in the West, later generations made amends with better labour laws and enforcement of policies and evolved into a more humane workspace culture.

According to Vanishree Shukla, who settled in Australia more than 20 years ago, advanced economies like Australia have a payment system that is proportionate to the risk involved in the job. Someone working in mines would be better compensated for the risks they face in doing their assignment unlike in India where jobs with greater risk and morbidity rates would get a median annual pay. Shukla further states that another good thing about Australia is that it does not promote the billionaire culture and, hence, the society is less exploitative by nature.

Earlier this year Australia introduced a new law on work-life balance giving employees the right to disconnect, meaning that they do not need to monitor email or messages after normal working hours. Countries like France, Spain, Argentina, and some others have similar legislation in place.

India is still light years away in comparison to these countries with a feudal mindset still influencing the mindset of policymakers and political leadership especially when it comes to formulating labour policies.

While proclaiming slogans like ‘Vikisit Bharat’ and aspiring to become a developed nation by 2047, the Indian political leadership could consider the fact that this journey also involves progressive policies to facilitate a productive and buoyant ecosystem for the workforce that values their contributions, personal wellbeing and enable a sense of belonging with the enterprise and its mission instead of being shaped by profit motives and exploitation.