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A Bengaluru founder’s LinkedIn post calling out midnight calls, weekend meetings and public humiliation has sparked a wider debate on toxic work culture in India.
Many professionals said these behaviours have been normalised for far too long. (Representative Image)
A Bengaluru-based founder has sparked a conversation online after speaking out against workplace practices that many employees say have become all too common in India. In a LinkedIn post, she listed several behaviours that, in her view, should never have been accepted as part of professional life.
Her comments struck a chord with many people, especially those who have dealt with long work hours, unclear boundaries and difficult managers. While some users described the post as an important reality check, others shared personal experiences of dealing with similar situations at work.
She Called Out Common Workplace Habits
In her LinkedIn post, Aloona, co-founder of Mindbun, wrote, “Toxic shit that is normalised in Indian workplaces, but shouldn’t be.” She then highlighted five workplace behaviours that she believes have become widely accepted despite being harmful.
“Screaming at people, abusing people, belittling people in front of others, in standup meetings. Don’t even get me started on sales meetings, OMG!” she wrote. She also criticised leaders who expect employees to adjust their schedules around them.
“The entire company having to optimise their schedule around that one leader who decides to wake up at 2 pm and call people at midnight. Like w**?”
Another issue she raised was the expectation that employees should remain available even during personal emergencies. She referred to situations where workers receive office calls while they are sick, admitted to hospital or grieving a loss. According to her, it reflects the attitude of, “You are my slave, I own all your time.”
Aloona further wrote, “Having regular standups on weekends, not one-off, urgent things but regular weekly standups when officially the JD said 5 days working.”
She ended her list by pointing to bosses who delay important tasks until the last moment. “Bosses chilling and taking smoke breaks all day and suddenly realising at Friday 5 pm that everything is now ‘Urgent’.”
Calling out these practices, she added that “none of this is okay. None of this should be okay.”
The founder concluded her post with a message directed at employees: “If you are being told you need to grow up and develop a thicker skin – remember they are the problem, not you!”
Professionals Shared Their Views
The post led to a wider discussion about workplace culture and employee well-being.
An individual whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as a certified therapist wrote, “As a therapist, I genuinely think many people underestimate how deeply workplace environments shape emotional well-being, self-worth, and even nervous system functioning over time. The problem is that toxic behaviour becomes so normalised that people start questioning their own reactions instead of the environment itself. Constant humiliation, unpredictability, lack of boundaries, and emotional pressure are not ‘professionalism’ or ‘high performance’; they are chronic stressors. Important conversation.”
A brand communication and marketing expert commented, “Absolutely. Somewhere along the way, many workplaces confused pressure with performance and availability with commitment. Professionalism should never require humiliation, constant accessibility, or the sacrifice of personal well-being. Respect isn’t a perk at work, it’s the minimum standard.”
A lifestyle coach wrote, “This is the sad reality of many Indian organisations. Abuse has become the norm and pulling people down seems okay. As someone working in the field of employee stress management, I have heard/seen it all, and more. There are a few leaders who don’t even want a culture shift. Many now realise the gravity of the situation and are trying to bring about change. Long way to go.”
Another founder added, “What disturbs me most isn’t that these things happen…it’s that we’ve built entire cultures around calling them virtues. Sacrifice your boundaries? That’s commitment. Run yourself into the ground? That’s hustle. Tolerate what you shouldn’t? That’s leadership. A workplace that demands your dignity as the price of belonging was never worth belonging to.”
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