I recently started my first real job. Why do people do so much unpaid overtime?

Compiling a couple of ways people can understand a toxic founder from a distance, before they start working with them actively I've now met with a lot of them over the last couple of years, here are the ones that stand out the most to me: 1) Narcissism: They'll love to have fame through random things. Stuff like Forbes 30u30 or some random award. Even if it means nothing. They'll show how great business is doing on social media, even when it may be nosediving. You'll never know things are messed up on the inside. 2) Masochism: They're super likely to enjoy pain: be it messed up working hours, or bad health, or just really hard times. This almost allows them to thrive during adversity. This is usually coupled with sadism, they'll typically love that they can take pain well, but you cannot. 3) Overemphasize on the carrot: In your first couple of meetings with them, once they like you, they will over emphasize on the benefits you will have if you work with them. They'll keep repeating how your career could skyrocket, or how you could be a star in other ways. This is also a typical red flag. These are just 3 of the ones that I feel summarize what I have seen in known toxic founders. Happy to debate/know more if somebody else has had the lovely experience too :D

Grapeviners, this is what your corporate overlords like "Mr 70HoursperWeek" and all want from you, to DIE. 70 hours per week? This is a tight slap to Mr. NM and his supporters. Consider the case of the McKinsey consultant who lost his life( https://www.consultancy.in/news/4168/young-mckinsey-consultant-commits-suicide-due-to-work-pressure ). Wake up Grapevine! Aftermath: BofA Juniors will begin strike today.

What are some of the questions related to labour law in India that you always wanted to know (probably something that your HR may not explicitly tell you) - Ask here!

So it’s barely been a month since I’ve joined this company and my manager has already started dumping his workload to me on weekends and at odd hours late in the night. Now he’s not a horrible person but I hate how normalised this culture is at this entire organisation. I get it if I’m a founder or working at a startup, I have to be prepared to hustle but not at a big corporation. And the irony is that I once needed something urgently from someone based in Europe from our team but my manager asked me to call him the next day since that person was out of his working hours while I was on a call with my manager at 1:18am….. I’ve also noticed how casually he calls me everyday post 9pm to ask for updates or give a new task. My work hours end by 6pm. I really want to to establish certain boundaries, and not want to work on weekends. I’m a biker, and I’ve been cancelling all my biking plans on weekends just cause of this. How do I go about this without it negatively affecting my ratings/impressions etc.?? I have a life smh. (Writing this while I’m working on a Sunday)

Working for a Big 4 company has been terrible. They don't care about work-life balance; they treat us like dirt. They think it's okay to work even when we're sick. I start early and finish late every day, and they say it's normal. If I log off before 7, they act like it's a crime, saying, "Even bosses work late, so why can't you?" They even expect us to work on weekends, like it's no big deal. There's no real teamwork; everything feels controlled. I end up with all the work. The bosses are just as bad; you can't talk to them about your problems. Even if you're struggling mentally, they want you to work 12 hours a day. And getting a day off? It's like winning the lottery. This job is ruining my mental health. I can't sleep at night worrying about going back to work the next day. They don't care about us; they just want us to work non-stop and forget about our personal lives.

How do you define work life balance boundaries at work? Everyone in my team works 10-12 hrs daily, it’s business as usual for them. I joined recently and it’s very problematic for me, I literally get no time to do anything else. I fear, that if I highlight this I’ll be singled out. Some people even feel very proud in doing so which I don’t understand. Don’t they want to go back home to their family and spend time with them? Please provide guidance on how to set these boundaries and am I thinking right?

Hi guys, I am unable to understand if culture is bad or I am thinking about it wrong - “logging off early” message/email at 5/6 PM for someone who started at 9/10 AM. Does that mean the expectation is to stay until like 8 PM for this person? Or the person wants to be transparent in case he’s reached out later? Don’t know but I feel bad that this is considered early.