Just gave an interview in a startup and the Founder is shamelessly asking will you work on the weekend?

For context: Weekends are off. So just fri WFH. This is a Series B startup. I am not even asking for a leave but WFH for just 1 day. I joined recently. The only thing I did wrong was possibly informing a little too late. Want to get opinion if I am overthinking or this classifies as toxic culture in startups where you are expected to push limits above and beyond regularly and sometimes weekends. ---

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)

I'm surprised to see on the comment section that people actually support this load of crap. To any newbies or freshers entering tech this year, don't follow this advice. These CEOs exploit your time to gain revenue and when the time is not good they wouldn't think twice before considering layoffs. Just do your job and go home to your life and family. This advice only applies to entrepreneurs who have huge stakes in the company. Because if the company do well they get millions in returns as dividends. As an employee, even if you work for 25 hours you only get the same salary. Don't follow any so called self procalimed entrepreneurs advocating for the hustle culture. You hustle for your life, not for your boss or your job.

Context: I work at a startup, it's a pretty chill work environment, very flexible, hybrid model. Everything is great. Problem: They take flexible work hours too seriously, I have meetings at 10 PM on weekdays and almost every weekend there's some work which they need the next day in most cases but apparently have to keep the meeting on the weekend with no prior notice. I mean, i like going to office twice a week around 11-12 and coming back around 7, wfh when I have a few meetings that day but is it normal to work on weekends? and after work hours? P.S. I've only been in this company for a month and joined as a fresher. Now that I've put it down, this is such a gen z problem lol But what should I do?

I’ve been working in a startup since last 8 months and I am exhausted. The team size is around 30 (frontend and backend). Some weekends are working too and there’s nothing like timings. I am left with nothing but just work, no other activities and no social life. Is it same with everyone working at a startup? Curious to know Ps - it is a work from office job!

I have been at a company since 2.6 yrs as a founding engineer (joined here as a fresher). I am a graduate from IIT Delhi. I am paid well (50 LPA cash + decent stocks). The work culture of where I am is pretty amazing (5-6 hrs work, 5 days a week), WFH. Since I joined when the company was growing, I am well respected. I would also go in length to say that I don't expect the culture to be this good anywhere else. However it has been pretty boring lately, the work is very monotonous ( I am a backend engineer with pretty decent technical skills). I think I have little opportunity to grow here. What should I do ? PS: I got interview calls from various startups but most of them are just matching my salary but after doing some research I see that they are demanding lots of work (12 hrs, sometimes weekends included)

Context: I work at a startup, it's a pretty chill work environment, very flexible, hybrid model. Everything is great. Problem: They take flexible work hours too seriously, I have meetings at 10 PM on weekdays and almost every weekend there's some work which they need the next day in most cases but apparently have to keep the meeting on the weekend with no prior notice. I mean, i like going to office twice a week around 11-12 and coming back around 7, wfh when I have a few meetings that day but is it normal to work on weekends? and after work hours? P.S. I've only been in this company for a month and joined as a fresher. Now that I've put it down, this is such a gen z problem lol But what should I do?

So I interviewed for a SaaS company serving US clients. I got selected after three rounds (basic email chat, built a project, technical coding round at last) and got selected. Finally, it was time to discuss salary and joining date with the CEO. He was impressed by the about section on my portfolio, where I mentioned that I like to go on treks, hikes, read books, lift weights, go on a run, etc. During our call he mentioned that everyone at the startup works 6-7days a week, 12hrs a day and asked if I'd be fine with it as I have a "happening life". I said that I'm not used to it but I'll manage and work in appropriate working hours. He seemed to agree on it. But he ghosted me after that, and when I pinged him in the email thread; he said he's not moving ahead with me because my other properties won't allow me to "work as much as other employees". How am I supposed to react to this lol

Recently the CHRO of my company called me into a discussion on improving WORK LIFE BALANCE. Wow. I just cannot understand. Look at this. 1. Most companies work 5 days a week. (Except retail operations). So you get 52 weeks x 2. 104 days. 2. 30 days annual leav 3. 9 days statutory holidays. 4. Operational holidays. 3. 145 days of 365 days corporate people don’t come to office. And in a hybrid format even more. It is these corporate vultures who want work life Balance. How can u balance your life if u r unable to do it in 145 days. So Narayana murthy is right - work hard like 80% of india. Who have almost no weekly off. Just saying.