Why do Indian Companies / Indian management have horrible work life balance and cultures compared to others ?

I've had the fortune of having worked in 3 countries so far. India is by far the most exciting place to be in 2024. But there's something about our work ethic that just concerns me. In both white and blue collar. In most other countries, I've observed people strictly sticking to the 9 to 5, working diligently in those hours - not wasting too much time on chai sutta breaks, instagram browsing, gupshup etc. They work for 8 hours, then leave. And think about work directly the next day. In India, most of us spend more hours - but very obviously very few of those hours are productive. In fact, I lately feel that too many people around me are doing even 2-3 hours of work on a good day. We end up just staying around, passing time, and then go back home. When we could have achieved so much more. Work ethic has fallen. Work hours have gone up. We need to be more mindful of our actions, we need to work well at work, and then do well at home. I think it's a function of being over populated. There are 1.5-2 people doing what 1 person should be doing, hence this effect. Needs to be fixed, it's the sign of a major problem in the workforce. Thoughts?

Indian managers will make the work culture toxic even if they are in good international companies. Indian branches of the same company will be shity because of these insecure managers.

I am working at an European company. Previously my manager was non Indian. Some re org happened, and I got an Indian manager. Man, I cannot tell you how many times I thought of resigning in the last 3 months. I think it’s in the genes. For instance, I informed that I would be on leave on 26th dec, given that 23, 24 are sat and sun and 25 is Christmas. They asked me if I can be on on call till 25th, as I’m only on leave on 26th Like wtf, who thinks this way!!

How many of you actually only work 9-5? Do you get paid for overtime? Is Indian corporate culture disconnected from the 40-hour workweek belief?

Now why everyone is talking about benefits of working from office? I saw post from Sunil Shetty on linkedin. My take is, when pandemic hit companies asked employees to WFH to keep wheel rolling. Now we know WFH can give greater control over personal and professional life(at least for me) we don’t want to go back to office. In my opinion corporate want us to work from office cause, - they can control our time, 9hrs in ofc, you are getting paid for time not skills. - they want to show who is the boss here. - Learning is key reason for WFO, bullshit, we have a lot of learning portals and traffic time can be used to learn but it is never a intention. What you guys think?

Does the Toxic work culture only exist in India or outside India also the same? Are the international Managers good compared to Indian Managers?

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. ---

How many of you just decide to quit applying for a company if the company’s recruiting platform is Workday? I’m just so frustrated. And irrespective of the size of the company, I’ve really quit the process right then and there if ever I see workday. This includes big companies like VISA, Walmart, etc. Is it just me or is it a common behaviour?